Something Old, Something New
The fine white line that defines the vehicles we see on the road today and the sometimes outrageous concepts designed
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| The Concept T is perhaps the most radical Volkswagen concept car to be shown in recent years. (Photo: Volkswagen Canada) |
Designed by VW's California studios, a reincarnated dune buggy recently landed in Detroit for its world-premiere. Like magic it managed to deliver the heart and soul of California to a land in dead cold winter. This vividly bright red crossover convertible sports car is just a hint of what the future of Volkswagen might include, proving that it's a brand in motion.
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| Only Volkswagen has the history to redo the dune buggy and still be taken seriously. (Photo: Volkswagen Canada) |
From an overall standpoint, the Concept T is perhaps the most radical Volkswagen concept car to be shown in recent years; and that includes the Microbus, now scheduled for production, and 2003's Concept R roadster. Perhaps its New Beetle based Dune concept came closest conceptually, but at least it had a roof.
But while radical, only Volkswagen has the history to redo the dune buggy and still be taken seriously. The plastic bodied kit cars became icons of the free-loving West Coast lifestyle in the '60s and '70s, enough so that even VW dug deep into its WWII past to recreate the Kubelwagen Type 82, renamed the Thing.