Posted on 06/13/2019 7:17:15 AM PDT by ETL
Volkswagen has been thinking about bringing a compact pickup truck to the U.S., and it might want to hurry up.
Custom car body outfit Smyth Performance has unveiled a conversion kit to turn a VW New Beetle into a pickup and it’s already the Massachusetts company’s best seller.
According to Motor 1, the first 100 kits were sold out during a pre-order period at $2,990 a pop.
It's compatible with the New Beetle that went out of production in 2011 and features an aluminum step side bed with a retro flair that suits the car’s styling.
Smyth calls them "utes", using the Australian term for a car-based pickup.
Smyth says a skilled builder can complete the installation at home and offers instructions on how to do it, but owners can also send their car to a shop to get the work done.
VW BEETLE TO END PRODUCTION IN 2019
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Examples...
I like the old ones.
They are resurrecting the VW Micro-bus................
Too bad it is based on the on one of the least reliable cars on the planet.
The transmissions were crap, VW quit making them.
They should have made it rear engine like the original so it would have been different. It would have once again been the poor man’s Porche. Instead it’s just another “Chick car”.
Isn’t the whole thing just a VW Fox chassis with the bug body on it?
I don’t know, I owned a 91 Fox GL... it was a great little car....
Too bad the new Jeep Wrangler Gladiator is bigger than a Tacoma. There’s room for a smaller pickup, especially off-road.
“That’s just not right.”
In a regular bug, the engine is not in the front. In the bug pick-up, the engine is not in the rear. Where the heck is it?
Please don’t tell me it is behind the radiator...
New Beetle. Front engine since around 1997.
Since you mentioned "thing", the VW Thing used a combination of existing VW designs, including the Karman Ghia.
Not that you'd notice...without being a real car aficionado...
Wow! I had no idea! Thanks for the update!
Isn't the rumor that Ford is coming out with a newly-designed Courier, similar to the old Subaru Baja, in response to Volkswagen's new release? For me that would be a nice daily commuter. I'll keep my old F150 for more serious truck work.
That would be my guess, but they are pretty bad cars, especially the automatic.
Only available on the other side of the pond. Sorry.
They are advertising it here..................
Yep, new Courier to compete with Hyundai Santa Cruz.
Problem is 25% import pickup tariff. Building them in US apparently makes them costly enough to erase price difference between these and larger existing pickups.
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