Photo: zida_ren / Instagram
Ever since Volkswagen duped the public with the infamous Dieselgate shenanigans, the American public has slowly and steadily lost faith in the German automaker.
Its local online portal is a statement of two things – VW currently caters to people who don't care about those past problems or the fact that people might remind them of those wrongdoings. Instead, those customers only care about affordability and space when it comes to models like the Taos subcompact CUV, Jetta sedans, or the Atlas models.
Some diehard enthusiasts only have eyes for the GLI, GTI, and R models – no matter how few of them are left nowadays. And there are also the optimists who chose to believe in VW's path to redemption led by the ID. family of models – of which currently only the ID.4 (starting at $38,995) is available, but the 2024 ID. Buzz and ID. 7 are soon to follow.
However, it seems that Volkswagen doesn't care much – aside from the Golf GTI and R – about legacy. Sure, the ID. Buzz is a quirky little minivan reminding everyone of the hippie old days of the VW Bus with an EV twist. But there's no more Passat and no more Beetle – not to mention regular Golf models.
Of course, logic dictates that those nameplates may never come back to life as VW considers them almost completely closed chapters – the Passat sedan has died in Europe, too, with only the station wagon version available. At the same time, the iconic Beetle was decommissioned after the New Beetle and A5 modern Beetle didn't prove the resounding successes VW had hoped they would be.
However, some people don't abandon these models so easily and even tend to take matters into their own hands. Or rather, at the tip of their CGI brushes, as is the case here with the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. For example, here's Ren Zida, a former senior designer at Mercedes-Benz China, now turned exterior designer at Tesla, who still likes to play as a virtual artist (aka zida_ren on social media), who cooked up a quick VW project with help from AI-based Midjourney software and some good-old Photoshop magic.
Thus, meet the Volkswagen Dune Concept, an interesting prototype depicting a crossover-coupe-SUV-like model that clearly pays homage to the immortal Beetle without having to adhere to its legacy too much. The iconic shell-style design is still present and accounted for, but now the pixel master has the naming liberty to follow his dreams, too. The result is not too shabby, indeed – and could easily be integrated into the ID. family or offered as an ICE-powered or PHEV vehicle, according to VW's needs.
Well, too bad it's just wishful thinking, and also, it's such a wasted opportunity when the CGI expert only shows a promising design project from a single POV!
Some diehard enthusiasts only have eyes for the GLI, GTI, and R models – no matter how few of them are left nowadays. And there are also the optimists who chose to believe in VW's path to redemption led by the ID. family of models – of which currently only the ID.4 (starting at $38,995) is available, but the 2024 ID. Buzz and ID. 7 are soon to follow.
However, it seems that Volkswagen doesn't care much – aside from the Golf GTI and R – about legacy. Sure, the ID. Buzz is a quirky little minivan reminding everyone of the hippie old days of the VW Bus with an EV twist. But there's no more Passat and no more Beetle – not to mention regular Golf models.
Of course, logic dictates that those nameplates may never come back to life as VW considers them almost completely closed chapters – the Passat sedan has died in Europe, too, with only the station wagon version available. At the same time, the iconic Beetle was decommissioned after the New Beetle and A5 modern Beetle didn't prove the resounding successes VW had hoped they would be.
However, some people don't abandon these models so easily and even tend to take matters into their own hands. Or rather, at the tip of their CGI brushes, as is the case here with the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. For example, here's Ren Zida, a former senior designer at Mercedes-Benz China, now turned exterior designer at Tesla, who still likes to play as a virtual artist (aka zida_ren on social media), who cooked up a quick VW project with help from AI-based Midjourney software and some good-old Photoshop magic.
Thus, meet the Volkswagen Dune Concept, an interesting prototype depicting a crossover-coupe-SUV-like model that clearly pays homage to the immortal Beetle without having to adhere to its legacy too much. The iconic shell-style design is still present and accounted for, but now the pixel master has the naming liberty to follow his dreams, too. The result is not too shabby, indeed – and could easily be integrated into the ID. family or offered as an ICE-powered or PHEV vehicle, according to VW's needs.
Well, too bad it's just wishful thinking, and also, it's such a wasted opportunity when the CGI expert only shows a promising design project from a single POV!
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