Volkswagen's Bulli is really 'Bull' of the cars, this is rich with interior space and flashy exterior, the attempt to disguise a Chrysler minivan as a Wolfsburg-bred flower-power-mobile hasn't gone over very well, but the brand needs to sell in every segment in this country if it's going to grow. The Bulli would integrate well with VW's strategy of multiple models on a single platform. The five-passenger van would use the next-gen Golf as its underpinnings, and possibly would come as either a hybrid diesel or even an electric-only vehicle, like the concept shown in Geneva this past spring. And unlike the present Transporter, which has really ballooned from the compactness of the original Microbus of the 1950s and '60s, the Bulli is small and squat. Still, modern-day adventurers and those with a hint of nostalgia will hope VW saves the show-Bulli's rear seat that folds totally flat for in-car camping.
Things were different right after the war though. Back when the Beetle came out, it was more of a way to get the German economy off the ground and to offer cheap transportation for post-war Europe. It was a case of "to hell with the flaws, we need anything with wheels". The Beetle and the Microbus that came after it did, however, leave lots of retro car fans who like to play with screwdrivers and open up the cylinders of their boxer engines every weekend. They're not exactly the "In" Crowd, but VW in their marketing wisdom did find a way to grind the bones of the old Beetle into dust and sprinkle them on a Golf body to make the New Beetle.
A front-wheel drive Beetle based on the Golf turned out to be a great idea. But the hipster owners are back to their usual shenanigans, like that couple who spent the whole winter knitting their car a gigantic sweater.
For years now, these same folks, who like to recycle everything and grow their own salads have also been demanding something called a "Bus".
That idea came and went. In 2010, the first rumors came out that VW was working on a new six-seat MPV, the long lost son of the Microbus. At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, the Bulli Concept came out and people were positively ecstatic. Vdab wasn't coy about wanting to put it into production in Puebla, Mexico as soon as 2014. Since that's clearly no longer going to happen, I want to find out why and how we can fix that.
What's the Bulli Concept, really? Well, the old T1 Bus was… you know… a real bus. But the one-off in Geneva wasn't that at all. The Germans themselves said the Bulli concept could “establish a new, fifth brand of people carrier” alongside its Caddy, Touran, Sharan, and Caravelle lines. Right there is your biggest problem. European MPVs are a real snooze-fest… except the C4 Picasso. A Bus is not exactly a barrel of laughs either, but you can stick a bunch of stuff in it and go camping, surfing, hiking and a lot of other dirty activities.
That's never going to work in the US though. American families want lots more space for themselves and the gear they want to bring. The biggest sedan Ford sells in Europe is only called a mid-size on the other side of the ocean. That, the overlap with other VWs, the lack of a clear marketing direction and especially the fact that crossovers have taken over means that, in my opinion, the Bulli's time is long gone.
VW board member Ulrich Hackenberg has gone on record saying that the Bulli concept van, as shown at the last Geneva Motor Show, is not currently planned for production. That runs counter to recent reports that the German company was considering a vehicle in the small CUV segment that a Bulli might fill, though it doesn't discount the earlier rumor entirely. Hackenberg cites a shortage of demand for a production Bulli as the reason for the project getting shelved. Love for the original Microbus remains high both inside VW and in the public at large, but it remains to be seen if nostalgia alone can be counted on to drive unit sales for something wearing the Bulli's unique shape.
Less surprising is word that VW is going forward with a production version of its groundbreaking XL1 – which makes sense, as we've already seen prototypes in spy photos. The two-seat, 300-plus-miles-per-gallon car is reportedly earmarked to go on sale in limited numbers. Where, and exactly how limited those numbers are remains to be seen.
Really it's a bull redefined
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