Photo: Volkswagen
Decades ago, the beaches and dunes of California were invaded by a strange metal animal: a weirdly shaped car with large wheels, wide tires, and no fixed roof or doors. This year, it comes back.
The 1960s and 1970s were America’s – and the world’s - crazy years, as humanity faced extinction from nuclear war, civic movements - including violent ones - were on the rise, and so were serial killers.
With so many things threatening to end life as we know it, people were also looking for ways to have crazy amounts of fun. And one of the solutions to the fun problem was this type of recreational vehicle.
Most of these machines were built on Volkswagen Beetle platforms. Since the model was also known as the Bug in the U.S., the new creation borrowed the name and became known as the dune buggy.
Over the years, until their semi-official demise in the 1980s, there were around 250,000 Beetle-based dune buggies built. Since then, the dune buggy offering has diversified greatly, but most of them are no longer based on VW platforms, nor are they as appealing as the original version.
From 2019’s Geneva Motor Show onwards, this reality could change. Volkswagen announced on Wednesday it has been secretly working on a new version of the buggy, which will be shown during the Swiss event.
Just as the dune buggies of old were a testimony for the Beetle’s versatility, the new dune buggy will be testimony for the many ways in which the future MEB electric vehicle platform could be used. Because yes, the new dune buggy is an electric vehicle.
Volkswagen did not reveal the name of the machine, nor any technical details about it, but it did say this is, at least for now, only a concept.
While making the announcement, Volkswagen let loose info that a production version of the buggy and “other low-volume niche vehicles” might be made possible by the implementation of the MEB platform.
With so many things threatening to end life as we know it, people were also looking for ways to have crazy amounts of fun. And one of the solutions to the fun problem was this type of recreational vehicle.
Most of these machines were built on Volkswagen Beetle platforms. Since the model was also known as the Bug in the U.S., the new creation borrowed the name and became known as the dune buggy.
Over the years, until their semi-official demise in the 1980s, there were around 250,000 Beetle-based dune buggies built. Since then, the dune buggy offering has diversified greatly, but most of them are no longer based on VW platforms, nor are they as appealing as the original version.
From 2019’s Geneva Motor Show onwards, this reality could change. Volkswagen announced on Wednesday it has been secretly working on a new version of the buggy, which will be shown during the Swiss event.
Just as the dune buggies of old were a testimony for the Beetle’s versatility, the new dune buggy will be testimony for the many ways in which the future MEB electric vehicle platform could be used. Because yes, the new dune buggy is an electric vehicle.
Volkswagen did not reveal the name of the machine, nor any technical details about it, but it did say this is, at least for now, only a concept.
While making the announcement, Volkswagen let loose info that a production version of the buggy and “other low-volume niche vehicles” might be made possible by the implementation of the MEB platform.
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