The soon-to-be-replaced VW New Beetle Convertible has caught the attention of Bavarian foil specialist Car Film Components (CFC), which has revealed a rather artsy-looking tuning proposal. The highlight of the tune is of course the exterior with certain parts of the body including the doors, side panels, hood and bonnet covered in a velvet black wrap while the front and rear bumpers, the wheel arches and the rocker panels are draped in a sticker like motif. The pice for materials and labor is €2,200 or about US$3,140.

For those that don’t mind digging deeper into their pockets, CFC offers a few more goodies such as a set of 19-inch alloy wheels priced at €339 (US$484) a piece, which can be wrapped around in Kumho Ecsta SPT rubber in size 225/35ZR19 88Y for €159 (US$227) each.

Also available are 15mn wheel spacers priced at €167 (US$238) per axle, along with a stainless steel coilover suspension from KW for €919 (US$1,311) and stabilizers for €179 (US$255).

And no, despite what you may have heard or read, the Audi TT ain’t the most popular car among hairdressers – or at least not in Britain. According to a new study made available today by UK women's car insurance specialist Diamond, that title goes to…*drums please*…the one and only, MINI One hatchback. In fact, the BMW Group’s MINI brand had two vehicles in the top five positions.

The UK insurance firm came to this conclusion after looking at data from over 18,000 hairdressers in Britain. The company said the MINI One is three and a half times more likely to be driven by someone working as a hairdresser than everyone else.

Next up on the list are the Vauxhall Tigra, a Fiesta-sized hardtop-convertible from GM’s European arm and Volkswagen’s New Beetle (the outgoing model), both of which are said to be more than three times as popular with hairdressers than the rest of the UK. The fourth and fifth place finishers of the study are the Ford Ka and Mini Cooper.

"It's not surprising that the Mini One is so popular amongst hairdressers, as it's stylish, modern and looks great,” said Diamond managing director, Elwyn Gedrych. “In fact, with two Mini models in the top 5, that certainly cements its place as the ultimate 'hairdresser's car'."

One more finding from the study is that British hairdressers are 33 percent more likely to drive a convertible model than drivers from other professions.

So there you have it. The Mini One is officially the real hairdresser’s car. Have your say in the comments below.

To be completely frank, what caught our attention in Volkswagen’s latest press release (and probably yours in this post) on the new pilot car-sharing program called Quicar, wasn’t the news itself but the special livery of the 2012 Beetle shown in the promotional set of photos. Nevertheless, since we already told you the headline here’s the rest of the story on Volkswagen’s new car sharing concept that will take place in the German city of Hanover (or Hannover).

Due to be set in motion this fall, the project will see Europe’s largest automaker providing a fleet of cars that will be used in a sharing scheme with customers booking the vehicles in advance through the Internet, a special app or a call center up to five minutes before the car is needed. A chip card or a chip fixed to the driver’s license unlocks the car, which can be driven after the customer enters a PIN number using the integrated touch screen.

When Quicar launches, there will be some 50 pick-up and drop-off locations all over the city of Hannover, but VW said this number could reach 100 in the medium term.

Volkswagen said it will start off with 200 Golf BlueMotion vehicles equipped with a 1.6 TDI diesel engine that returns an average fuel consumption of 3.8lt/100km (equal to 61.9 mpg US), corresponding to CO2 emissions of 99 g/km. The 2012 Beetle seen in the pictures along with some variants of the Caddy will be added to VW’s car sharing fleet shortly after the launch of the program.