As the current gasoline-engined Beetle approaches the end of its product cycle -- the model will exit production next year -- and as Volkswagen's ID range of electric cars gets rolling with an electric Microbus in the works for 2022, it would have been difficult to picture the ID lineup without a Beetle-style retro model. Autocar now reports that such a model is under consideration, awaiting a green light from VW top brass, but it's going to shake up the Beetle formula not just when it comes to the powertrain but when it comes to packaging.
According to Autocar, the electric Beetle will share Volkswagen's MEB electric vehicle architecture with other ID models, but this time around it's going to be a four-door sedan rather than a two-door one. The motivation for such a change is versatility, and four-door Beetles are something that the company had contemplated much earlier, though never quite pushed into production.
“The Beetle of today is a very attractive two-door coupe or convertible, but it is limited in the amount of cars that it can sell because it’s a niche," VW design boss Klaus Bischoff told Autocar.
"If you look at MEB, the shortest wheelbase (possible) is the ID (hatch). If you took that and did the Beetle on it, you have plenty of room so there’s no compromise in functionality anymore. So it could be a very attractive car."
When it comes to retro-styled models in the ID range the Microbus will debut first, in 2022. Before that, an electric hatch will land. A sedan and an SUV, previewed by the ID Crozz and ID Vizzion concepts, will also arrive on the market during this time.
"Our duty is to get the volume [electric] models under way," Bischoff told Autocar. "These cars have super-complicated technology and if you do too much, it’s an overload. Then we [can] move into more exotic cars and the field of emotion."
But Bischoff cautioned that a decision on an electric Beetle as part of the ID lineup would not be made for another two or three years. The design boss also told Autocar that he had already made a sketch of an electric Beetle model.
Indeed, it would make sense to offer the Beetle as a small electric sedan, not only taking advantage of the MEB platform but offering a companion model to the electric Microbus.
Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum. Despite being followed around by French cars for the past decade, he has somehow been able to avoid Citroën ownership, judging them too commonplace, and is currently looking at cars from the former Czechoslovakia. Jay has been with Autoweek since 2013.
