VW wants to take the Bulli Microbus Concept it premiered at the Geneva show last week to production.
According to Autocar, VW's research and development chief Ulrich Hackenberg says that the Microbus is based on the MDS [Modular Design System] platform and will likely be made at VW's Pueblo plant in Mexico.
The MDS system that Hackenberg is referring to may be part of (or the same thing as) the new MQB modular transverse architecture ("Modular Querbaukasten" in German) that VW has developed which will underpin many future models including the next-generation A3 and Golf models. The architecture is flexible enough to allow for models of varying track and wheelbase dimensions to be built on a shared platform. The Bulli Microbus can also be made on that platform.
Hackenberg told Autocar that the Microbus will have different market variants so that it can be sold around the world. In the United States, it will provide some competition to the Scion XB.
The VW Bulli Microbus is a 3+3 (two rows of three-seat benches) minivan measuring 3.99 m in length, 1.75 m in width and 1.70 m in height. Wheelbase is 2.62 m and the Microbus has a wide track for those 3-seater benches at 1.50 m.
The concept VW debuted in Geneva was an electric vehicle but the automaker said that it can easily be adapted to be powered by the VW Group's various small diesel and petrol power plants, putting it closer to a production-fit model.
