The current Volkswagen Beetle is one of the German brand’s worst-selling models, despite benefiting from a light facelift in the middle of last year. In fact, there were rumours that slow sales were expected to lead to the famous badge being killed off by 2018.
But now a new report out of the United States suggests there may well be hope for the retro-styled Bug.
Klaus Bischoff, the Volkswagen brand’s head of design, told Automobile that an electric powertrain could end up saving the Beetle.
“There have been no decisions so far, but it’s possible the Bug’s future is electric,” Bischoff told the magazine.
An electric version of the Beetle would slot neatly into VW’s stated plans, since the Wolfsburg automaker is betting big on the electric car in a bid to bounce back from the costly diesel emissions scandal.
Indeed, VW recently set itself a target of selling one million electric cars per year by 2025, adding that its “future electric cars will be the new trademark of Volkswagen”.
A new, all-electric Microbus (previewed by the ID Buzz concept) will almost certainly be one of the key models in this quest, and a plug-in Beetle may well play a role, too…
