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Classics,
Minivan/Van,
Government/Legal,
Safety,
Volkswagen,
South America
Brazil: the country of carnivals, indescribable beauty adjacent to abject poverty,
Ayrton Senna and old
Volkswagen models. Only they're not old - they're new, they're just based on old designs. The original
Beetle continued production there long after it had been phased out elsewhere, but the original
Kombi van has lasted much longer. That ends today, however, with the iconic VW Microbus ambling out of production on the last day of 2013.
VW kept making the van in Brazil with the original air-cooled 1.2-liter boxer four until 2005, after which the original design was updated with a 1.4-liter water-cooled engine. Today, however, it ultimately falls prey to safety regulations that mandate that all vehicles - no matter how old their design - need to have airbags and ABS, forcing Volkswagen do Brasil to cease production of the Microbus after a 56-year production run. But the latest word is that the Kombi (as it's presently known) could get a stay of execution - or at least a resurrection in short order.
According to reports, the Brazilian government is looking into granting the Type 2 Microbus an exemption from said safety regulations, reasoning that the van was designed long before the advent of airbags and ABS. If the measure goes through, the
Kombi Last Edition (pictured above) could prove not to be the last at all. So what do you think, should the Microbus get an exemption from Brazilian safety regulations for nostalgia's sake? Vote in our poll below, then have your say in Comments.
View Poll
Brazil contemplates safety exemption for VW Kombi as it goes out of production today [w/poll] originally appeared on
Autoblog on Tue, 31 Dec 2013 09:45:00 EST. Please see our
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31-12-2013, 05:50 PM
