Volkswagen wants to revive the famous Microbus

Volkswagen is seriously taking into account revival of the famous Microbus model, named Hippie Van or Hippie Mobile by its fans at the time. The statement was made by Klaus Bischoff, general designer of Volkswagen, who acknowledged that such a project is on the table of the officials.

Bischoff even said that the revival of the old Microbus is a personal mission, which he intends to carry out until he leaves Volkswagen. To avoid unnecessary speculation, Bischoff wanted to emphasize that the future iconic model won’t be a series by-product of the Microbus concept, exhibited in 2001, whose project was blocked four years later for lack of funds.

According to Bischoff, the future Bus will become real in the VW design center in California, with the model series seen basically as a replacement for the current Routan, American family car which isn’t enjoying too much popularity on the other side of the Ocean. The VW Plant in Chatanooga, USA, is set to take care of the production of the model.

On the European market, Volkswagen Microbus will seek to make Microbus be a member of the T1 family, without losing the model’s tradition.

Present at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Klaus Bischoff said that the public will get acquainted with the concept that previews the future Bus series in 2012 and that the production version is expected no sooner than 2015. Given the length of the development period, the model could even make its debut on the market with a hybrid or electric drive train.

Source: autoblog