This summer, I managed to pay another visit to Wolfsburg to complement my memories from my visit in 2018.
One novelty of the 2021 trip was a visit to Volkswagen’s own brand museum in the city. You heard that right. Next to the largest automotive theme park in the world with its own Zeithaus museum building, Volkswagen operates a small and functional museum warehouse open to the public. This place is not as popular as Autostadt, but it is certainly worth the 10-minute drive.
The building resembles a factory warehouse and is undoubtedly not as posh as the Autostadt complex. Still, the collection includes some really impressive specimens. Some of them are milestones or special editions, others are concepts or development projects. I also recommend having a peek at the Museum’s website, which proved to be very detailed and helpful.
The VW Museum’s current thematic exhibition is on until 31 October 2021, presenting the company’s all-wheel-drive efforts with drivetrains, concepts, milestone models and race cars.
The technical details and refinements are illustrated with 18 selected vehicle exhibits paired with the associated drivetrains, such as the Quattro, Syncro, Torsen and Haldex systems, as well as electric drive introduced in the BUDDe concept. This article will not go through the entire exhibition, but it is still worth recalling my favourite highlights.
The yellow dwarf that looks like a city car on steroids is a 1998 Lupo Sport. The car seems buffy with a reason: the engineers at VW stuffed a five-valve turbocharged engine paired with the Golf Syncro drive. You might imagine, the car never saw production, but some parts were sold on sporty models like the Lupo GTI.
Another interesting specimen was the LT 40 Doka “Rally du Tunisie”. As the four-wheel-drive was introduced in the LT in 1987, the lorry was adapted for racing purposes.
The timeline concludes with the future that became the present. The 2016 BUDDe Concept was the precursor to VW’s current mainstream strategy, spawning an entire fleet of concept cars showcased at the IAA 2019.
The BUDDe was the very first concept to present VW’s brand new MEB (Modular Electrified Building Blocks) platform, designed in 2016. True to the thematic, both axles (steerable rear axle) are driven by separate e-motors.
The next segment (or the first if you follow the corridor) is dedicated to VW’s most iconic model, the Beetle. There are about two dozen Beetle specimens in all sizes, ages and forms. Still, the most striking one is the white Oettinger Beetle from 1973.
This Beetle received an extensive widening that awarded it a truly dramatic stance. I mean, now it looks rather ridiculous with its Testarossa waistline, but this car came a decade before the Testarossa, which puts things into a different perspective.
The long corridors keep a wide selection of rare and exciting Volkswagen models, from intermediate development models to rarities like the SP2 coupé or the Polo Harlequin.
There is a trio of Karmann Ghia coupés illustrating the three generations. These cars were coachbuilt on the technical basis of the Beetle, which made it one of the slowest coupés of its time (VW USA even made ads about it : ) ).
The next segment means spoiler alert, as it presents a few exciting race cars from the Brand’s history. Not all, not even the most successful ones (like none of the Polo WRCs scoring four consecutive World Rally Championship titles), just a few interesting ones.
Like the most recent ID.R electric monster that stormed the Pikes Peak and took home the all-time record. The ID.R also stole the show at every event I saw it (including the Essen Motor Show 2018 and the IAA 2019).
The other one I would like to highlight is a Dakar monster truck bearing the Touareg name (and some resemblance to it). The one showcased represents the third generation of Touareg Race cars that won the Dakar Rallies in 2010 and 2011. The vehicle is powered by a 2.5 litre, 300 PS diesel engine and is based on a tubular space frame wearing a carbon fibre body.
It is time to take another rhetorical break as the last segment offers enough sights for an entire article. Stay tuned!
The Volkswagen Museum’s concepts recall the revolutionary groundwork behind the company’s success
