Will the rear-engine Volkswagen be revived?

When Volkswagen created the New Beetle in the late '90s, it revived the iconic shape of the original people's car, but not much else. The original was pushed around by an air-cooled boxer four-cylinder that ultimately provided the basis for the first Porsche engines and countless dune buggies and kit cars. The modern edition was essentially nothing more than a nostalgic looking body on a run of the mill Golf platform.

It now seems possible that the new entry level car VW is working on may be more like the original Beetle than the Lupo that it was supposed to replace. The baby VeeDub could turn out to have it's engine sitting on top of the rear axle much like the Smart ForTwo and come in Beetle-esque and sedan body styles. The emerging market variant would be powered by a two-cylinder engine, while Europe and the US would get a direct injected, turbocharged three cylinder FSI. The cars would be kept simple with a target price of $10,000 to $14,000.

If you can't wait until the end of the decade for rear engine VeeDub and you're in South-East Michigan, you might want to head down to Riverside Park in Ypsilanti for the Michigan Vintage Volkswagen Festival on Sunday May 13 from 10-4. This year they're celebrating fifty years of the Karmann Ghia.

[Source: Automobile via eGMCarTech]