Volkswagen Microbus Rumors Surface Yet Again
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Even though it’s spawned various stillborn re-incarnations, the VW Microbus may be returning thanks to executives within Volkswagen pushing for a concept that evokes the iconic utility vehicle.
Klaus Bischoff, head of design for Volkswagen, stated that the 2001 Microbus concept did not make it to production due to cost factors, but noted there was serious public support for the project.
Despite the goodwill expressed towards the project, Volkswagen remains unsure of what direction they will take with the Microbus. Bischoff told Auto Express that “the key question is ‘what sort of car should we build?’ It could be a traditional MPV, with a conventional interior, or we could be much bolder, designing a more flexible, versatile machine – perhaps one that is closer in spirit to the original model. It is not yet decided.”
A concept likely won’t be seen before 2012, but reports say that VW’s American and European design teams are working together to create something mutually acceptable for both markets.
[Source: Auto Express]
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Back in the day when I was a young boy coming up my family had a 50 hp [37.275kW] 1960s era VW camper bus. We traveled all over the United States into 47 of the lower 48 [missed ND]. This new VW bus looks pretty impressive with an 85kW [114.017438mhp] electrical motor and around a 180sm range. Another version of the VW bus has a V6 engine, I believe the offset VR6 with a single cylinder head with 231mhp [172.2105kW] and 236 lb ft of torque. Sounds like a very nice vehicle from a country where there is 25.8GW installed capacity of windpower, perhaps much of it on the beautiful windswept shores of the North Sea, enough electricity for more than 1,290,000 homes at 20kW draw per home --very impressive. Wish the US had more respect for forward investing and money making engineers and mechanics as Germany does than dieve$ting [$ic] and money taking gov't and private bank$ter$ as we have here in the States. I recall traveling 1340 statute miles from NYC to NOLA in the early 1980s with 3 other people in a VW 2 door SOHC I4 diesel Rabbit [now 'Golf']; the cost for fuel came to $18.80 total, $4.70 per person --less than the cost of hitchhiking! This new VW bus looks like a clear and easily marketed winner.