On most days, taking a test drive of the New Beetle at VW Santa Monica is a waiting game. More than a year after bug redux, car buyers still stack up five deep to get behind the wheel, as if queuing for a carnival ride. "We can't keep up with the flow," sighs VW dealer Jeff La Plant, who has nearly doubled his sales staff. "The New Beetle is like a magnet that draws people back to us."Indeed, Beetlemania has revived Volkswagen in America. The whimsical bubble-mobile just keeps picking up speed--and the rest of the VW lineup is going along for the ride. Overall sales for the German auto maker are up 44.6% in the U.S.
