AUTONEWS

BEETLE WILL ARRANGE ELETRIFIED AND WITH FOUR DOORS

Last March Volkswagen announced that the legendary Beetle was reaching the end of its commercial life that had begun in 1997, when the German manufacturer had decided to retake the emblematic denomination to give life to the New Beetle.Wolfsburg brand research and development chief Frank Welsch confirmed that the mythical model would come out of production without a successor, ensuring that "two or three generations of the Beetle were enough" and that the model would not continue.However, it is worth remembering that at the end of last year Herbert Diess, CEO of the brand, said that the company could give the green light to the development of a new generation of Beetle, but that the car would not be as we know it today, as the emblematic model would reincarnate this time as a purely electric model.It seems that Diess's words point in the right direction, because these days, Klaus Bischoff, responsible for design of the German brand, revealed new details about this new Beetle that will be driven solely by an electric motor. Bischoff confirmed what was already known: that this hypothetical model will use the MEB platform for purely electric vehicles of the Volkswagen Group, an architecture that will initially give life to a compact, a crossover and a van.The Beetle will use the MEB platform in its short chassis version, ie the same one that will be used by the I.D hatchback. Concept in its production version. As confirmed by Herbert Diess last year, the car will use the same mechanical distribution of the original Beetle, meaning it will be rear-engine and rear-wheel drive.Another important innovation of the model is that it will use a body with four doors, something that will be possible thanks to the flexibility of the platform that will be used, an architecture that will allow plenty of space between the axles, keeping a compact size.The new purely electric Beetle will be a passionate character model, a car that will try to win customers who focus on their emotions.