An alternative title for this article could have been, "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same." What today's automakers now tout as the next Big Thing has been around for at least 50 years: so-called "crossover" or multiple-use vehicles. Similarly, while most people credit Chrysler Corporation for inventing the modern, multi-tasking minivan in 1984, there were many that predated the original Caravan/Voyager-but only one that started it all. "The More Things Change..." certainly worked for Volkswagen with the New Beetle a few years back. Could there be more mileage left in this whole Retro/Heritage Design thing?
The answer appears to be yes.
VW's Microbus Concept stole the hearts of everyone who attended the North American International Auto Show in Detroit-not an easy task, as nearly every manufacturer served up at least one "world debut" concept vehicle. But the talk of the show floor, among media and the public alike, was, "Didja see that totally cool VW bus?!"
The original VW bus stands as the '60s' ultimate surf wagon, so it's only appropriate that any new version be designed at VW/Audi's Southern California advance product studio-also the birthplace of the New Beetle. The team's aim was to create another Volkswagen original, not just a copy of the old style. Observers and critics, ourselves included, think they've succeeded and failed. For the Microbus concept is a little of both.
About the same overall size as the current, boxy EuroVan (including its hallmark short front and rear overhangs), the Microbus measures 15.5 ft long. Yet its sleek, modern design tends more toward high-tech flexible transport of the future, than utilitarian-though-huggable Microbus of the past. Xenon headlamps housed in angular rectangles combine with the Micro's high, blunt nose, large VW badge, two-tone paint, and stylized grille to make a face one might see in modern Japanimation-and some don't find it particularly cute. In profile, the clean, restrained lines and bold wheel arches (with show-car-size 20-in. wheels) work well to give it a modern and stable-looking stance. Around back, the front-end styling theme is repeated, where it looks more plausible and attractive.
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