Here’s a video about the design and building of this important new VW product:
VW really brought it for this build, as you can see. Take the lighting system, integrated into the armrests. There appears to be both DRLs that match the look of VW’s current design language as well as actual projector-style headlamps set within, along with turn signals, taillights, and the “party light” multicolor LED mode they showed in the video.
There’s a seat heater, and backup cameras, and proximity sensors and a tow hitch – hold on, I’m just going to copy and paste the full feature list here:
I wonder what the thinking is with the tow hitch? I guess you could tow a little trailer to move office equipment like your telex machine or punch-card readers or whatever they’re using nowadays, or perhaps you could bring snacks to all the workers, perhaps a large vat of chowder, to everyone. It’s a fun, goofy idea, well-executed, so that’s great, VW Commercial Norway. The only problem is that if you really extrapolate the use and full enjoyment of this chair, there’s really no end result that doesn’t look like this:
Also, while I get this is basically a joke, I’d like to propose something: what if it wasn’t? What VW had perhaps unwittingly built here is something that I very much believe in: the small, minimal energy-demand low-speed, low-range little car. I believe in it because I have one that I have used extensively, my ridiculous little Changli EV.
I’ve used this little 1.1 horsepower thing for all sorts of transportation needs for years, and I’ve found that a shocking amount of what I do I can accomplish with the Changli. And that VW chair is essentially a sleeker, body-less version of the Changli. Expand the battery size a bit and throw a body on that thing that can seat, say, two or three, and boom, VW has a viable EV city car that can be sold for cheap. Something like the new Citroën Ami. Think about it, VW! Sometimes things that start as jokes can turn into something much, much more. Like, you know, car websites. “Loudspeakers and entertainment system with songs that give you the feeling of going on a trip” So Autobahn by Kraftwerk, then. I would give Gary Numan a nod, but I can’t lock all the doors and be stable for days in chairs. *platinum referring to the catalytic converters we had to steal to finance it Now, if these chairs get included in new VWs as some kind of side-launched ejection seats, I’m all in. Like the Batpod launching out of the crumpled wreck of the Tumbler, these motorized chairs would be awesome, especially for anyone with mobility issues. Pull up to the grocery store in your ID. Buzz, push a button, and the seat disengages from the car and slides out the side, without you ever having to stand up. Then you just scoot into the store. After shopping, go back to your car and push a button on your chair. The door opens and you ride up into the Buzz and the chair locks back into place. The chair could even be charged by the car itself as you’re driving. And if you encounter another person in the store riding around on their chair, you obviously have to joust with rolls of aluminum foil. Are the electrical woes solved ? When do we get a racing league for these?
