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E-Bugster. Not the sound of a Yorkshireman swearing, but Volkswagen's all-electric Beetle concept.
Unwrapped at the Detroit show, the E-Bugster is a chopped two-seater that demonstrates, in the rather twee words of VW, that the new Beetle is 'more power, less flower'. Its A-pillars are nine centimetres shorter than those of the new Beetle and raked back more steeply too, giving the Bug' a speedsterish profile.
The E-Bugster is a couple of centimetres wider than the standard Beetle, with new front and rear bumpers sporting glitzy LED lights, a new VW concept signature.
See more pictures of the E-Bugster concept
There's a battery where the rear seats should be, serving up 85kWh of power to a electric motor. Despite its schportier profile, the E-Bugster isn't exactly searing in the pace department, taking eleven seconds to reach 60mph. VW assures us it'll manage at least 110 miles on a single charge, but then again they haven't seen the way we drive. Good thing, then, that the E-Bugster can be fully recharged in just 35 minutes.
VW won't say at this stage whether a production electric Beetle is on the cards, but admits that the E-Bugster's powertrain is essentially identical to the upcoming electric Golf Blue-e-motion (no, really), so the technology is certainly production-viable. The E-Bugster is also said to hint at the design of the upcoming Beetle cabriolet, but don't expect the production convertible to be anything like as chopped as this concept.
Company bosses were, sadly, unable to confirm whether the E-Bugster would be followed by the U-Git and O-Justsodoffnow concepts.
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
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DoubleT commented on this article
at 08:39 pm on 09 January 2012
Link to pictures doesn't work. Otherwise, not cool car. I think. Or maybe it is. Who knows.
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DoubleT commented on this article
at 09:07 pm on 09 January 2012
Thank you (pics)
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bjorkhult commented on this article
at 10:49 pm on 09 January 2012
nice. I am absolutely not a fan of vw, but this one looks quite good
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StigsIrishCousn commented on this article
at 12:35 pm on 10 January 2012
Whatever about the concept the 35 minutes charging of the battery is amazing considering if takes about 8 hours for other plug-ins! Is that on a normal plug or a fast one I wonder?
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minigearhead commented on this article
at 12:56 pm on 10 January 2012
very hot ride. I WANT ONE NOW. but wihtout the heavy E.V. crap
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