The Volkswagen brand won various design and innovation awards at the Frankfurt International Motor Show this year including the Plus X Award for the most innovative 2017.

This award is for technology, sport and lifestyle and is presented in recognition of products’ qualitative and innovative edge.

Curious that the company should get the award in the year that their bill for fiddling over the diesel emissions in the United States alone is going to be $30bn. So you would have to ask yourself can they be that good on the innovative front?

Two years after the problems first emerged, Volkswagen is still struggling to put the crisis behind it and separately Munich prosecutors have made an arrest in connection with the scandal.

But really Joe Public doesn’t care a jot. Sod what the emissions are. As long as VW maintain their reputation with cars like the Golf it doesn’t matter to people how much money the company has in the bank at the end of the day.

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is present in more than 150 markets throughout the world and produces vehicles at more than 50 locations in 14 countries.

Last year they produced around six million vehicles, including bestselling models like the Golf, Tiguan, Jetta and Passat.

Currently there are almost 200,000 people work for Volkswagen across the globe and the brand also has 7,700 dealerships with 74,000 employees.

The latest VW Beetle comes in around £20,000 considerably more than the around £100 which Herr Hitler demanded when he brought the car into production in the 1930s.

Since then more than 22 million have been built since then making it one of the most popular cars the world has seen.

It has been considerably refreshed over the years and the latest was just 12 months ago and in the last 20 years there has been continual demand with 68,000 sold in the UK in that period.

It is a front-engined machine these days and has front-wheel drive with a number of small petrol and diesel turbo engines with four cylinders linked to a six-speed manual or six-speed DSG automatic transmission.

Quite different to the original vehicle or even the one that was turned out in the 1960s, but still recognisable as a Beetle.

It is quite a racy looking machine and great fun to drive.

I had the two litre diesel model which has a 125mph top speed, 0-62 mph in under nine seconds and provided me with more than 60 miles to the gallon on the combined cycle.

It loved being thrown around and quite a nostalgic ride. Am I really 20 years in the 21st century or back in the 60s?

No, this was the top of the range which hits the £28,000 mark with 20 inch rims with a total of 22 paintwork colours and seven alloy wheel options. Yes this is definitely the 21st century.

In their latest model VW decided to get rid of that little bud vase which decorated the dash board a few years ago. Never really knew why it was there and if it was for female purposes it was an insult to women. But it has gone.

All the dials and controls are easy to understand and are within easy reach and sight.

There is a range of optional items like sat nav, parking sensors, a good sound system etc etc. Ironically the car is no longer built in Germany and the current Beetle is manufactured in Mexico.

How long will we continue to see a new Beetle on our roads? Difficult to say because there is no sentiment with the Germans. If someone in VW thinks it’s time to say ‘that’s it’ then they will cease production.

I’m just glad I was driving for 50 years of their production and drove for a number of their variations.