Get Ready to Meet Max.

The more things change, the more they stay the same is how the saying goes. Volkswagen is going back to its roots as "The People’s Car"...sort of. Beginning in late April or early May, we consumers will be introduced to a fresh ad campaign featuring VW’s new spokesperson...er, spokes-vehicle(?), Max. The word on the street is that Max is a talking 1964 VW bug who will co-star with "Project Runway" host and supermodel Heidi Klum as well as her singer husband, Seal, in commercials to launch the new-to-the-U.S. VW Tiguan SUV. We couldn’t find any early visuals of Max or the ads, but as soon as we do, we’ll post them on The Checkered Blog.

Whenever I think of talking Bugs, I think of "Herbie The Love Bug" but I am willing to give these new ads a chance because, frankly, I think recent V-dub commercials have left something to be desired. Those "crash" commercials were downright scary. The VW brand seems to me to be about having fun and being young, or at least acting like you are, as well as having a reliable, safe, hip European car and that hasn’t really come across in recent ads.