Volkswagen releases three concepts... from 2028

Click the above image of the Ego for more shots of VW's 2028 concepts
For years, Inquiring minds have been imagining what the world will look like in the not-too-distant future, and, as you're no doubt aware, our brains have a knack for envisioning more than our feeble hands can produce. That appears to be the case with Volkswagen and its look 20 years into the future of the automobile. So, with that in mind, what does VeeDub see as the future of transportation in twenty years? To begin with, customizable cars which can be summoned up in just minutes. Traveling alone? Choose the One, a single-seater, for the smallest footprint possible. Want to have some fun? Choose the aptly named Ego, a sporty two passenger coupe with an instant custom flame job. If you need to haul the whole clan, the future's family truckster VW Room needs no driver, leaving you with plenty of quality time with the kids.
Volkswagen envisions vehicles which communicate with each other, meaning that driver involvement is kept to a minimum, traffic is a thing of the past and accidents are completely avoided. Of course, no vision of the future would be complete without the elimination of fossil fuels, and VW sees to it that biofuels and electricity power the cars of the future. Interestingly, the not-so-futuristic up! concept is used as the starting point for the German automaker's future designs. Head on over to the micro-site for more.

[ Via: Volkswagen 2028 ]
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VW design chief wants a return to 'basics'

If you look back over the years, Volkswagens have been steadily marching toward the gaudy. We're not talking Sagrada Familia amazingness, but chromey, buck-toothed, overwrought fussiness. Walter Da'Silva is out to change all that by realigning Volkswagen design with its past. That doesn't mean that every VeeDub becomes a K.D.F Wagen throwback like the New Beetle, but certain proportions and themes from the historical portfolio will define the design language.
Da'Silva expounded on his efforts with CAR, and used a lot of adjectives to tart up what's simply a course correction of Volkswagen styling. Look for the next Passat to be de-chromed and given a nose and tail treatment that follows a tighter brand template. Basically, what Da'Silva really wants to do is forget that the last eight years happened, and bring new VW designs more in line with the Wolfsburg of the late 1990s. If we could pipe up with our votes, we'd like to see the classic angularity of the Mk1 Golf come back -- Citi Golf, anyone?

[ Via: CAR ]
[ Tag: da silva,DaSilva,volkswagen design,volkswagen styling,VolkswagenDesign,VolkswagenStyling,walter da silva,walter dasilva,WalterDasilva ]

Production VW up! may drop rear engine and RWD

We'll admit to being a bit shocked that Volkswagen was even considering a move back to the rear-engine configuration it made fashionable all those years ago with its first vehicle, the ubiquitous Beetle, for the production version of its up! concept. Although we have some fondness in our hearts for the good ol' Bug and its backwards engine location, modern packaging constraints may force VW to ditch this idea for the production version of the up!, just like it did for the modern reincarnation of that first Vee Dub, the New Beetle. Out would go the uniqueness of the concept vehicle with this decision, but such is life in these days of platform sharing and cost considerations.
To go along with the previously noted nostalgia-crushing news, rumors indicate that both a 1.2-liter gasoline engine and a new diesel engine of the same displacement are expected, both offering just 55 horsepower. If this power level is accurate, at least the up! will share one thing with its Beetle forebear: really slow acceleration.

[ Via: Motor Authority ]
[ Tag: front engine, FrontEngine, rear engine, RearEngine, volkswagen, volkswagen up, VolkswagenUp, vw, vw up, VwUp ]

Mk1Amino!

Amino is more than just an organic compound (amine, really). It's also a favorite automotive suffix for people who've just sawed the back off of their vehicle and created a pickup bed where once there wasn't one. Short on information but holding a very intriguing picture in his hand, Dan Strohl at Hemmings has found what appears to be a very custom Rabbitamino. There was, of course, a pickup-truck Rabbit produced by Wolfsburg, but that came after the 1978 date code on the back of this particular slice of Kodachrome. Real Rabbit pickups had different doors and rear quarter panels than this one, and they also lacked the, ahem, third axle. Barring any kind of documentation, the best we can do is gaze longingly at the Chicklet-worthy orange and try to decipher yet another artifact from the halcyon days of the late 1970s when the smog ran thick and cars were weak.

[ Via: Hemmings ]
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