A lot has been made lately out of the new Chevy Camaro’s sales outpacing those of the refreshed Ford Mustang. Personally, we think it stems from an overflow of passion for the intervening decade that GM denied Bowtie fans their pony cars. Whatever the reason though, the Mustang and Camaro are locking horns over sales figures again, but it would appear the Mustang may have a new rival to worry about.

Motor Trend reports that VW’s American General Manager of Marketing and Strategy Kevin Joosteema says that the all-new 2012 Beetle “need[s] to target the Mustang.”

Before you get your feathers all in a ruffle, don’t take Joosteema out of context. What he is saying is that the New Beetle needs to target customers in a way that builds a serious loyalty to the New Beetle, so it’s a bit of an off-handed compliment to the Mustang. After all, Mustang owners are among the most devout car fans, and every company dreams of having that kind of fan base. This extends from the V8 GT models down to the base V6 models, which are popular among female and teenage drivers, which is the same market as the VW New Beetle.

Joosteema goes on to say that he knows the cars won’t be cross-shopped in a traditional way, though on the same token, many a V6 Mustang can be found in high school parking lots across the country…as can older versions of the New Beetle. Joostema says he wants to “play the emotions” of car buyers with the New Beetle and build the same kind of brand loyalty. The only problem is that there was a long gap between the old and New Beetle. The Mustang has 47 uninterrupted years of production, and you just can’t buy that kind of loyalty.