With the 2011 Geneva Auto Show about to start in the cold Switzerland, the world is watching, eager and excited, to see how the coolest of the coolest and the finest of them all will present themselves at Europe's first major auto show of the year.
The excitement levels reached new peaks this evening, when Volkswagen announced, nearly out of the blue, that the resurrection of the icon flower-power Microbus will take place in Geneva. Unfortunately for those expecting to see a reiteration of the extremely lovable model, this one has less flower and less power in it.
Called Bulli, the new Microbus shatters everything you believed its rebirth will bring. The concept is an electric vehicle, powered by a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery and an 85 kW electric motor.
At the core of the six seater lies the latest evolution in in-car entertainment, a system controlled via the iPad. Colored in a two-tone paint and featuring a V on the bonnet, Bulli wants to look more like the Samba bus than like an oversized Cube.
Most of you will find a lot of similarities between the Bulli and the Microbus concept of 2001, and you are correct. The new model is a revival of that model more than it is of the Hippie-van.
And VW knows it. In its own words, the new Bulli is a “far cry from the original Volkswagen bus.” Then again, this is not 1947, but 2011, and the expectations of the customers are very, very different.
autoevolution will be attending the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, so stay tuned for some real up close and personal shots of the vehicles, as well as for first-hand details of the motorized contraptions presented at the event.
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