2023-08-31 03:57:00
31.08.2023 05:57
31.08.2023 05:57
This post originally appeared on Motor1.com*
VW seems to want to bring an absolute classic back onto the market. At least that’s what messages from the group’s brand boss indicate.
Cute bunny pictures on the LinkedIn account of VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer and on Volkswagen News on X, formerly Twitter. A workshop picture marked “D -7” and “D -6”. And Schäfer’s statement: “We love the Rabbit.” Garnished with the hashtag “lovebrand”. Is Easter already at the end of August in Wolfsburg? What is behind the mysterious announcements?
There aren’t many hard facts. Of course, connoisseurs of the VW brand know that the Golf I and later also the Golf V were sold under this name in the USA. The first Rabbit found its way to the States in 1975, at that time still exported from Germany. From 1978 it rolled off the assembly line in a specially built factory in Westmoreland, but there with manageable success.
VW Rabbit is said to be a “useful brother” for the Golf
The VW Rabbit was an absolute cult in the USA, especially in the 80s. Image: Getty Images
The Golf I GTI only came to the USA as the Rabbit GTI in the 1983 model year, and this anniversary was recently celebrated with a special model. The first Caddy and the Golf I Cabriolet also ran in the USA as Rabbits. In France and Norway there were “Rabbit” special models of the first Golf GTI. And currently a “Golf Rabbit” special model is being offered in Austria at a reasonable price.
With regard to the Rabbit alias Caddy, VW Commercial Vehicles (VWN) says: “The improving economy in America is one of the reasons for Volkswagen, the extremely successful Golf, which is on the market there as “Rabbit” and is built in Westmoreland/Pennsylvania to put a useful brother aside.The two-seater with loading area developed in Wolfsburg is still “unnamed” and goes by the name of Rabbit Pickup.
Its body parts come from the stamping plant in South Charleston/West Virginia, which is regarding a four-hour drive from Westmoreland. It is primarily intended as a “jack of all trades” for farms near the large metropolises in North America, where there is an increasing shortage of parking spaces and daily traffic gridlock threatens. And indeed, the rabbit pickup has enjoyed increasing popularity in a very short time. By the time its American production ended in 1982, a good 77,000 vehicles had been sold in the USA in the following year.
Will the new Rabbit be presented at the IAA in Munich?
In Europe, the Rabbit pickup first appeared in the 1983 model year. At the beginning of November 1982, Volkswagen presented the small all-rounder to international motoring journalists in Mayschoss/Eifel. The small pickup for Europe is built by the Volkswagen subsidiary TAS in Sarajevo/Yugoslavia. Once production has started, around 12,000 to 15,000 vehicles are planned for the various markets in Western Europe.”
But back to the rabbit teasers. Of course we asked VW and of course they are still vague there. It is not a model for the US market, but rather a global approach. Point. We are betting on a study that will be unveiled next Sunday as part of the “Media Night” on the eve of the IAA 2023 in Munich.
The original of this post appeared first at Motor1.com
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