Volkswagen has revealed a pair of wacky, yet plausible, concepts in the Buggy Up! and Beetle R at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
One of the main provisos of Volkswagen’s Up! series of vehicles and concepts is that of modularity; we’ve seen the Up! spawn a mini-MPV spinoff, a hatchback and even an EV, but the recently-revealed Buggy Up! is one of the most radical looking iterations of the company’s new ‘people’s car’.
It seems fitting that the Up! should produce a beach buggy as it was the original ‘people’s car’ – the VW Beetle – that formed the foundations of the first beach buggy: the Meyers Manx. The concept retains many of the original buggy’s traits, such as a lightweight plastic body, basic hose-down interior (obviousy you’ve got to be careful around the integrated iPad dock) and stretchy tonneau roof.
The Buggy Up! measures 3 584 mm long and 1 672 mm wide– 44 mm longer and 31 mm wider than the standard Up! and features minimal overhangs, front and rear, a squat stance and 18-inch alloy wheels.
The Beetle R concept also presents a feasible production proposition – especially when you consider that Volkswagen is trying hard to bury the Beetle’s feminine connotation.
An aggressive body kit incorporating a rear diffuser with quad-exhaust pipe set-up and ventilated bonnet are augmented by 20-inch alloy wheels with blue brake callipers peeking through the spokes. The cabin is features Nappa leather sport seats, gloss black trim, aluminium pedals, R-branded sill plates and special floor mats.
Volkswagen has not provided any specifications of performance figures for this concept, but the company has hinted that they are in line with those of the Golf R and Scirocco R – think 0-100 km/h in around 5,7 seconds and a top speed of 250 km/h.
