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Concept buggy creates such a buzz, Volkswagen fans hope it goes into production

Concept buggy creates such a buzz, Volkswagen fans hope it goes into production

Since Volkswagen displayed its fully electric concept car, the ID. Buggy at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year, it has created quite a stir, not only among motoring journalists, but also with the general public who fondly remembers the joys of driving a beach buggy.

Volkswagen showed the ID. Buggy with the stated intention that it is not destined to become a production car, but the acclaim it drew after Geneva has many car enthusiasts hoping that the giant automaker will reconsider. The ID. Buggy was primarily developed to show the manufacturing possibilities, using the ID’s floorpan, drive train and battery system for four other all-electric models the company has in the pipeline.

With its striking retro design, the ID. Buggy fetches its design DNA from the popular beach buggy cult of the 1960s and 70s when private builders launched a range of fibreglass bodies to fit on the Beetle’s floorpan. The Beetle prove to be the ideal fun-car base since its shell could be separated completely from its chassis in a matter of hours. Fitting the beach buggy body on the same subframe then became an easy job, not only for mechanics but also for free-spirited youngster who yearned for the pleasures of offroad sand driving without the then hefty price tags of conventional 4x4s.

The ID. Buggy is an all-electric vehicle with a respectable zero to one hundred km/h acceleration of just over 7 seconds and a top speed approaching 160 km/h. Its endurance is roughly 250 km on a single charge under normal driving conditions.


 

About The Author

Daniel Steinmann

Educated at the University of Pretoria: BA (hons), BD. Postgraduate degrees in Philosophy and Divinity. Publisher and Editor of the Namibia Economist since February 1991. Daniel Steinmann has steered the Economist as editor for the past 32 years. The Economist started as a monthly free-sheet, then moved to a weekly paper edition (1996 to 2016), and on 01 December 2016 to a daily digital newspaper at www.economist.com.na. It is the first Namibian newspaper to go fully digital. He is an authority on macro-economics having established a sound record of budget analysis, strategic planning and assessing the impact of policy formulation. For eight years, he hosted a weekly talk-show on NBC Radio, explaining complex economic concepts to a lay audience in a relaxed, conversational manner. He was a founding member of the Editors' Forum of Namibia. Over the years, he has mentored hundreds of journalism students as interns and as young professional journalists. From time to time he helps economics students, both graduate and post-graduate, to prepare for examinations and moderator reviews. He is the Namibian respondent for the World Economic Survey conducted every quarter for the Ifo Center for Business Cycle Analysis and Surveys at the University of Munich in Germany. Since October 2021, he conducts a weekly talkshow on Radio Energy, again for a lay audience. On 04 September 2022, he was ordained as a Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church of Africa (NHKA). Send comments or enquiries to [email protected]