Remember the original Manx buggy? Sixties engineer/surfer/automotive dreamer Bruce F. Meyers figured out how to put a car kit on a VW Beetle, and created the ultimate dune racer in the process. Here’s Elvis sitting in one 50-some-odd years ago.
One group who have definitely not forgotten its role in American desert-buggy lore? Volkswagen themselves. In an effort to showcase the versaility of its new, patented modular electric drive matrix (MEB), the German automakers are now using the technology to power an e-buggy in the visage of those early California models.
Set to debut this March at Geneva’s 89th International Motor Show, the buggy is intended as proof that the much ballyhooed MEB chassis (a technology platform that VW hopes to leverage to spit out hundreds of thousands of e-cars by 2020) can work on random vehicles beyond its broad-scale production line.
And it doesn’t get more random — and awesome — than an electric dune buggy. Obviously details are a bit limited at the moment, but we like the cut of its jib based on the early teaser photos. Jet black mixed with good-vibes neon, and would ya have a gander at the size of those tires?
We’ll be interested to see if this thing ever moves out of the concept phase, but if dune racing’s going to take off again anytime soon (definitively not one of our 2019 predictions), it just might be fueled by a clean-cut, clean-energy machine from Volkswagen.
For more information on the concept, head here.
All images via Volkswagen Press Room
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