现行版大众甲壳虫是在2011年上市的，目前销量持续下降。虽然大众计划停产现行版，但并不意味着要放弃这款车。据最新报道，新一代甲壳虫将提供纯电动驱动系统，新车将采用MEB模块化电动车平台。大众品牌CEO赫尔伯特·迪耶斯(HerbertDiess)表示：如果当下哪款甲壳虫汽车更接近历史中最经典的甲壳虫汽车，非此次新平台上诞生的后置后驱电动版甲壳虫莫属了。迪耶斯介绍说，灵活的MEB平台可以让现行版甲壳虫直接转换成采用后轮驱动的下一代车型，同时提供多个套装。上月，迪耶斯还透露，大众计划恢复推出经典车型“Kubelwagen”，这将是一款电动多功能车。他同时表示，现行版甲壳虫不会增加纯电动版，而下一代车型有可能采用纯电动驱动。
Next VW Beetle Could Be A Rear-Wheel-Drive EV
The Volkswagen Beetle is one of the company’s oldest models still on sale today. The current generation was launched back in 2011 and sales are constantly declining.
However, while VW is planning to end the production of the current Beetle, the company is not yet willing to give up on the retro wave and is considering a new Beetle with purely electric powertrain. According to a new report, it could join the brand’s initial range of electric vehicles, all based on the dedicated MEB (Modular Electric Baukasten) platform. “If we wanted to do a Beetle, electrically it would be much better than today’s model, much closer to history, because it could be rear-wheel drive,” Volkswagen chairman, Herbert Diess, told Autocar.
According to him, the flexible MEB architecture allows any direct successor of the current Beetle to switch again to RWD, providing a number of packaging advantages. Last month, Diess also revealed Volkswagen might resurrect another classic nameplate, the Kubelwagen, as an electric utility vehicle. He then confirmed the current Beetle “won’t go electric; the next one might, if there is a next one.”