“Ageing hippies and surfers from California to Cornwall will bemoan the passing of an iconic vehicle that appealed to people who were not really meant to care about cars,” writes Wyre Davies the BBC’s Rio de Janeiro correspondent.
Wyre’s words are about the end of the line for the iconic VW Kombi hand-built in the suburbs of Sao Paulo. Beloved my many (and misunderstood by even more) the Kombi was first produced in Germany in 1950.
Production moved to Brazil seven years later where it has continued until today, virtually without any changes to its design. Production of all types of the Kombi will cease worldwide except for a “Last Edition” in powder blue with a 1.4l engine and manual transmission for 48,150 reals, equivalent to about US$21,000 or €15,000.
It’s quite likely that the last Kombi will become a collector’s piece, the last of 1.5 million VW Kombis sold worldwide.
Gone are the days when kids rode standing up-front clutching the dashboard without a safety belt in site – and a good thing too. But it was probably the only thing that changed in all its design years. RIP VW Combi.