The VW Beetle has a long history. Volkswagen stopped its production years ago, but now a car is being manufactured in China that looks suspiciously similar to the cult Beetle.
In the meantime, the car with the large, round headlights has become a rarity. But soon you could see the Beetle on the streets again. Because the e-car brand Ora of the Chinese group Great Wall has started the production of an electric car that is very similar to the cult car VW Beetle.
The Ora Punk Cat features a sloping hood, wide wheel arches and rounded headlights. In addition, many chrome elements are installed around the body. The car has an electric motor with a notable 299 hp. The battery of the Ora Punk Cat comes from the Chinese manufacturer CATL, which also supplies Tesla, BMW, Mercedes and VW, among others. The Chinese Beetle was presented for the first time at the Auto Shanghai 2021 trade fair.
Ora later presented a second electric model with a VW Beetle look: the Ora Ballet Cat. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has now approved its production. The E model is significantly smaller than the Ora Punk Cat, which is around 4.80 meters long and 2 meters wide.
VW refers to “possible property rights”
This means that there will be two replicas of the VW Beetle on the market in the future, which was built in Germany from 1945 to 1978. According to a media report published in July 2021, Volkswagen was considering suing the author for patent infringement. At the request of star VW spokesman Stefan Voswinkel explained: “Nothing has changed in the statement from July 2021. Volkswagen is examining legal action against the registration of the design and use on the market. Volkswagen expects that possible property rights will be respected.”
Just last February, VW CEO Herbert Diess responded to a user’s request for the development of a Beetle, the successor to the Beetle, as an electric car on the online platform Reddit: “Our most emotional vehicle in our history is undoubtedly the microbus. It was my first priority is to bring this icon back to life. But yes, many other emotional cars are possible on our scalable MEB platform.”
It remains unclear whether VW actually plans to produce the cult car as an electric vehicle. the star could not find out any specific details. “We cannot make any statements about future vehicle projects. Just this much: Our MEB electric platform is one of the most advanced platforms in the automotive industry, as the interest of other brands in this technology shows,” said spokesman Voswinkel.
Until 2025, Volkswagen will expand its portfolio with another model on this platform every year, including a model below the ID.3. The market launch of the Ballet Cat and the Punk Cat will have no effect on further production plans at Wolfsburg.
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Source: Stern
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