VW designer reveals discarded sketches of a 2017 EV concept

Volkswagen automobile designer Tibor Juhasz has unexpectedly posted images of a compact-sized, MEB-based sports EV that was conceptualized in 2017 but never released.

According to Juhasz, the idea to produce a small and fully electric coupe belonged to him. Eight years ago, Volkswagen was still in the middle of the Dieselgate scandal, and designing the MEB platform was its idea of switching focus to less polluting, more sustainable cars.

The modern VW ID range of electric vehicles is based on this exact architecture, but the concept seen here never saw the light of the day. It is possible that the automaker wanted to popularize the more affordable ID EVs first and later follow up with an image-focused, premium-priced sports car. Since the first models were poorly received and the market proceeded to slump soon afterwards, the company must have decided to shelve the project.

If it ever did come out, the unnamed coupe would fill in the niche left by the Corrado and Scirocco models. It also seems inspired by the VW SP2, a lesser-known sports car that was produced in Brazil for several years back in the 1970s.