Volkswagen of America will run two ads during the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, one for the 2012 New Beetle and one for the 2012 Passat. Forget the first ad, it’s the ad for the 2012 Passat that caught our attention.

It shows a young boy in a Darth Vader costume trying desperately to actually use Darth Vader’s force powers around the house, to no avail. It is only when he stands in front of the new Passat and commands it to start that it works. The kid’s father has started up the car with a remote starter in the key-fob. It’s a cute and geeky ad. We love it.

BenQ has unveiled its EW and VW series Vertical Alignment LED monitors which are apparently the first of their kind in the world. The VA LED-based panels are said to offer superior color reproduction, an ultra high contrast ratio, the ability to display blacks more accurately and minimize light leakage.

The BenQ EW series will be aimed at digital video enthusiasts more than regular Joes since it features a wider range of ports for video viewing. The VW series monitors feature DVI, D-Sub, HDMI 1.3 and headphone connectivity options. The VW2420 and EW2420 models will hit Taiwan first followed by a worldwide release in August.

There are a number of electric bikes and motorcycles on the market today. The good thing about these devices is that they are green and quiet. There are lots of folks that like to commute on electric bikes rather than drive cars.

VW is a major car brand that has not been tied to electric bikes before. The firm unveiled a new electric bike called the bik.e at the Auto China 2010 show. The bike is designed to fold up and fit into the spare tire area of a car.

Looks like the VW bus has jumped the groove and left it’s record playing days behind to become a radio. Dreams of Japan has released a miniature version of the Volkswagen bus aka hippie mobile, that features an AM/FM radio, all the necessary jacks for hooking up an external audio source and radio antenna alongside a tiny LCD display in the back window.

It also features a digital clock for the time. But it wouldn’t be a hippie mobile without some analog dials to tune the radio and adjust the volume. Sadly, there’s a catch. As every hippie knows, “the man” can’t be trusted. “The man” has priced this one at $129.99.

My first question is how do you get in this thing without a step ladder? My second question is why. As to why, well, this is what happens when an aircraft engineer has a 1968 VW Beetle a lot of time.

Sure, you’ve got your Bigfoots and your Hummers, but there’s just something about seeing a VW Beetle this high off the ground that pleases us. It’s got a new 2.8 Liter engine, which should give it a nice power to weight ratio. It will turn heads so fast you’ll hear the collective cracking of neck bones.

If you love old records, but don’t have the space for a turntable, then the Soundwagon Portable Record Player is for you. It’s the smallest portable record player in the world, and it’s an officially licensed Volkswagen van that will drive around the record as it plays your favorite vinyl records.

The sound is via an integrated speaker. I wouldn’t expect top notch sound, but watching an old VW drive along your old record will probably take you back in time. It will cost $90 and will give those old records another shot at life.