In the 1960s, the buggy based on the VW Beetle was a popular dune vehicle. Now the car is coming back as an electric car – according to the current trend – and appears with respectable characteristics.
After almost 60 years, the VW buggy is making a comeback. The legendary vehicle, which drove through dunes and beaches in California in the 1960s, comes onto the market as an electric car. The US manufacturer Meyers Manx presented the Meyers Manx 2.0 on Monday at an event in Malibu.
“It’s a symbol of fun, purity and simplicity, and it also represents the optimism of 1960s California – and we want to bring that back,” Philip Sarofim told Tech Crunch. Sarofim is the CEO and founder of Trousdale Ventures, the VC firm that bought the automaker in 2020. The second generation of the electric buggy should hardly appear to have changed in terms of appearance. In fact, apart from the headlights, everything has changed compared to its predecessor, says Sarofim. It looks like a hard top will replace the fabric roof and the rims are chromed in the middle. The technology of the buggy no longer comes from the VW Beetle, on which the first generation of vehicles was based.
Buggy sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds
The Meyers Manx 2.0 will come in two flavors: a 20kWh lithium-ion battery with an estimated range of around 150 miles (240 kilometers) and a 40kWh lithium-ion battery with an estimated range of 300 miles (about 480 kilometers). For a buggy, which is not intended for longer distances, that should be sufficient. Electricity is charged with a 6 kW on-board charger, but there is also an optional fast charging function for 60 kW direct current. With the small battery, the buggy weighs an estimated 680 kilograms, with the larger battery it is around 70 kilograms more.
The Meyers Manx 2.0 has two electric motors on the rear wheel axle, which should ensure quite sporty characteristics. In tests, the top version with a good 200 hp and 325 Newton meters of torque is said to have accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds. The manufacturers plan to announce further details about the vehicle at The Quail Motorsports Gathering event in California at the end of the month.
The buggy is certainly not intended as a first car. Rather, it is aimed at wealthy people and collectors who buy the electric vehicle as an additional car. What the Meyers Manx 2.0 should cost is still unclear.
Series production should start after the beta version
In 2014, the company – then still owned by founder Bruce Meyers – built an electric prototype of the buggy. In 2019, VW presented the ID. Buggy based on Meyers Manx. However, the concept stayed the same. Now the plans are obviously to be put into practice. Venture capitalist Phillip Sarofim and well-known car designer Freeman Thomas, who helped design the Audi TT and VW New Beetle and is now CEO and manager of Meyers Manx, want to ensure that the buggy really gets to market.
Where exactly the electric car will be built is not known. However, the company says it has partnered with a “US-based manufacturing unit.” Next year, 50 buggies are to be produced in a beta version, and the company then wants to produce them in series in 2024. After the Manx 2.0, other vehicles are to come onto the market in the next few years. But first it’s time to revive the buggy.
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