VW Mulls Rear-Drive, Electric Bug

Volkswagen AG is considering an all-electric, rear-wheel-drive successor to its Beetle small car to help add “emotional appeal” to the carmaker’s aggressive electrification plans.

The electric Beetle is one of several proposals that VW board members will discuss at an upcoming meeting to flesh out the details of the company’s new “Roadmap E” initiative, Chairman Herbert Diess tells Autocar. The plan calls for launching 80 electric and hybrid models across VW’s eight car brands by 2025.

Diess says the company hasn’t made a firm decision about the Beetle's future. Reports earlier this year suggested the company would kill the slow-selling Beetle by the end of the decade and replace the car’s halo status in the VW brand’s lineup with future electric models.

Diess notes that VW’s MEB EV platform would allow the Beetle to return to its rear-wheel drive and rear powertrain roots. This also would allow a front luggage compartment similar to that in the original 1939 Beetle.

In August VW confirmed plans to build an electric version of another one of its emotional models—an updated version of the iconic microbus—in 2022. The vehicle was previewed with the I.D. Buzz concept at the Detroit auto show in January.

Volkswagen resurrected the Beetle in 1997 and introduced the current second-generation model in 2010. The carmaker sold about 25,000 of the coupes and convertibles worldwide last year.