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Volkswagen BUDD-e Concept Looks like a Scion Gadget at New York Debut

The BUDD-e is old news, having made its unveiling in January 2016 at CES. However, since the concept couldn't be in two places at once, the motor show debut is happening right now at the New York Auto Show instead of at the Detroit venue that preceded it by three months.
Volkswagen BUDD-e Concept 15 photos
Photo: Newspress USA
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Still, that doesn't mean we didn't appreciate VW's decision to bring it to the Big Apple, especially since it's the cutest concept they've had this decade. If the Powerpuff Girls designed Volkswagens, this is what they would look like.

Looking at it in person, the BUDD-e is like a modern day Scion xB, but better connected and featuring more screens. If Scion made a car for the tech-savvy kids of today, this would probably be it. Where are the door handles? There aren't any. You open the BUDD-e using gesture controls, by holding your palm over the sills.

Volkswagen has been wanting to make a modern Microbus for many years. However, a completely flat face would probably kill any pedestrian, thus failing to meet modern crash safety criteria.

Like the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3 or VW e-Golf, the BUDD-e is fully electric. However, it has two electric motors that give it all-wheel drive. It's going to get roughly 233 miles on a single charge according to the US driving cycle or 373 miles (600 km) in the New European Standard Driving Cycle.

The gigantic 101 kWh battery pack is about three times the capacity of a Leaf. Something else we love is the fact that it can hit 93 miles per hour, making it faster than the current roster of EVs. Just like the green cars made by Honda and Toyota, the BUDD-e can also be used as a dedicated auxiliary power unit for a house and can communicate wirelessly with a smart home or a smart office.

VW is struggling with money, but this is the kind of car that will help clear the company's name. Dr. Volkmar Tanneberger, Volkswagen's head of electronic development, revealed that the BUDD-e Concept could be turned into a production model around the year 2020. They said that about the Bulli too, so we'll believe it when we see it.

Also being presented in New York is a GTE plug-in hybrid concept based on the Tiguan SUV. We hope that one will arrive in dealerships by 2018. You can check both of them out in the photo gallery below.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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