GENEVA — We love the VW I.D. Buggy. It's cute as a puppy, and is rear-drive with a decent electric range. As such, we'd love to see it reach production, but without Wrangler-level sales and profits, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile for Volkswagen to make it crash-worthy and production feasible. But hope is not lost, because VW is planning on letting third parties make its electric buggy come to life.
The company announced during its press conference at Geneva that it will sell its MEB chassis to third-party manufacturers. The first company that will use these platforms is E.Go Mobile AG for an unspecified vehicle. E.Go already builds a small electric city car and a shuttle bus. But E.Go doesn't have to be the only one. It wouldn't be hard to imagine that a small builder such as the dune buggy originator, Meyers Manx, could start buying chassis to fit buggy bodies too. And being a kit car manufacturer, Meyers Manx could get around some of the regulations that govern a large company such as Volkswagen.
There's even more potential than just a real-life I.D. Buggy, though. Talking with Klaus Bischoff from the Volkswagen design department, VW will likely offer its MEB chassis to companies based on those companies' specifications. So VW could provide larger or smaller battery packs, and either single- or dual-motor powertrains. We see potential for some very exciting sports car kits, or even fully-constructed and homologated sports cars built on the MEB chassis.
The offering of rolling MEB platforms also had us wondering about selling them to private customers for projects, possibly to convert classic cars. But Bischoff said that's unlikely, citing the complexity of the MEB system, from the computers to the batteries. That was a bit disappointing to hear, but we bet people will figure out how to take apart and repackage MEB powertrains in the future, just as they've done with Tesla powertrains.
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The company announced during its press conference at Geneva that it will sell its MEB chassis to third-party manufacturers. The first company that will use these platforms is E.Go Mobile AG for an unspecified vehicle. E.Go already builds a small electric city car and a shuttle bus. But E.Go doesn't have to be the only one. It wouldn't be hard to imagine that a small builder such as the dune buggy originator, Meyers Manx, could start buying chassis to fit buggy bodies too. And being a kit car manufacturer, Meyers Manx could get around some of the regulations that govern a large company such as Volkswagen.
There's even more potential than just a real-life I.D. Buggy, though. Talking with Klaus Bischoff from the Volkswagen design department, VW will likely offer its MEB chassis to companies based on those companies' specifications. So VW could provide larger or smaller battery packs, and either single- or dual-motor powertrains. We see potential for some very exciting sports car kits, or even fully-constructed and homologated sports cars built on the MEB chassis.
The offering of rolling MEB platforms also had us wondering about selling them to private customers for projects, possibly to convert classic cars. But Bischoff said that's unlikely, citing the complexity of the MEB system, from the computers to the batteries. That was a bit disappointing to hear, but we bet people will figure out how to take apart and repackage MEB powertrains in the future, just as they've done with Tesla powertrains.
Related Video:
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