Bad news for hippies. The Volkswagen Type 2, known throughout its many iterations as the Transporter, Kombi, Microbus, Bus and Camper, is to finally end production this year at the São Bernardo do Campo plant in Brazil, where more than 1.55 million units have been built since 1957.
Add to this the fact that the lovable van was born in 1950 and you have the longest continually-produced vehicle model in history, not to mention one of the most recognisable. But you know what they say all good things must come to.
Although the Kombi meets every single South American emission regulation, new Brazilian safety regulations which come into force next year require all new cars to have ABS, and airbags for the driver and front passenger.
VW Brazil’s product development chief Egon Feichter has told Autocar UK that in order to comply, the Kombi would have to become “a new car,” which simply isn’t financially viable – at least for now.
So it’s come to this – the Volkswagen Kombi Last Edition (they couldn’t have named it with more finality), of which only 600 will be made.
A water-cooled flex-fuel 1.4 litre EA111 straight-four sends 78 hp to the rear wheels (fill it up with ethanol for a whole 2 hp more!) via a four-speed manual ‘box.
On the outside, the nine-seater gets two-tone white and blue livery and whitewall tyres. Its interior boasts matching vinyl upholstery, curtains, connectivity for MP3 and USB, plus a numbered plaque (001-600) on the dashboard.
And with that, we bid adeus and auf Wiedersehen to a van-tastic icon as it chugs off into the sunset, hitting 100 km/h a very characterful 22.7 seconds later.
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So cute!!!
Still not a good reason for Proton not to replace a product once every 20 years…
Way better looking than INNOVA facelift
OMG, I didn’t even know they are still in production!! Where can I buy one new? :-)
Anyway, this line caught my eye
“new Brazilian safety regulations which come into force next year require all new cars to have ABS, and driver and passenger airbags”
Is ABS a must in Malaysia? If not, we are sure wayyyy behind.
the G could care less about our safety and well-being.. they only know how saman saman and saman some more.. (yeah, AES comes to mind)
I don’t get why can’t they make it to “a new car”, just throw in more safety features and prolong it like the Beetle, since VW is big and have tons of other car brands under its umbrella, is it that hard to remain another icon from their own lineup
Safety features like airbags cannot be ‘thrown in’, they have to be designed to match the car’s structure.
Paul, i believe he intended to say that this Kombi should be evolve just like the evolution of Beetle. VW should produce the concept version to suits current regulations.
I agree…
Well they had that microbus concept some years back, that looked promising. Since then VW’s only passenger exclusive van offering had been that lazily slapped together Routan which was a lame rebadging of the Chrysler minivans. With VW’s increasing investments in the US and Mexico (for vehicle assembly), I don’t see why VW couldn’t make a kombi reincarnate cheaply for sale into the Americas (NAFTA) and beyond, just like they did with the Jetta, USDM Passat etc.
“…new Brazilian safety regulations which come into force next year require all new cars to have ABS, and driver and passenger airbags”.
MALAYSIA?!?!?!
Malaysia got such rules too, but a bit of Kopi-O…
Grey importers should bring this into our shore
Do you think they will do if they did not make tons of profits.
Goodbye Legend
would love to have one
If this is available in Malaysia, i’ll snatch one instantly as collector’s item but too bad this cult-status van is not available here…..damn !
Please read the news on other blog. This van cost US$35,000 in Brazil.
Mean RM120,000 before tax, after 200% tax is about RM360,000 for a slow, 4 speed and 60s technology van that without headrest for rear passenger?
Better just bought an old unit and restore it and it won’t cost you more than RM100,000.
one predicted that this has collector’s item potential, then he could buy it regardless how thrash the spec could be. as long as he got the money.
Ford model T in auction for million $.. but for a spec of motorised bicycle?
I saw one at Penang sometime last year.
Waa, nice oh. Has more character than a Lambo. Heh.
And sometimes it’s nearly as fast as a Lambo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XvjVvFdMIY
Freaky stuff..this is the last thing i would expect to show up on my rear view mirror at midnight lol
The poor guy in the Porsche 968 didn’t expect to see it in his rear mirror too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qIvJtthjHY
BTW: Built in 1962, Porsche 993 Bi-Turbo engine tuned to 520PS, gearbox Porsche 996 GT3, 235/35/18 front, 285/30/18 rear, max. speed 230 km/h. The body was cut into two pieces longitudinally and broadened 210mm by welding a sheet metal stripe between both halves.
Bye bye Combi..
CBU one for me.. i want one!
the love machine ..lol
hippies make love in that regularly?
Kalau buat van berniaga pasar malam, mantap ni..!!
Nanti aku suruh Ronaldinho tlg order satu :)
Ugly .. similar to Innova facelift ..Ugly ..
ugly 4 u, beuty to others