Cartoon VW Beetle spotted on the streets, what could it mean?

A fictional all-electric Volkswagen Beetle concept from the animation movie “Ladybug and Cat Noir” was spotted on the roads of Paris, France. The likeliest explanation is that it was used as a promo vehicle, but there is another interesting theory.

The animation premiered on June 11, and the car was spotted not far from the theatre where the first screening took place. As such, it is easy to dismiss the one-off Beetle as just a show piece.

Still, some media have speculated that it could herald the car coming back to the manufacturer’s lineup after a four-year production hiatus. Volkswagen never said it was going to revive the Beetle lineup – the model was too niche and sold too few units to pay off – but making it fully electric could help it with finding a broader audience in Europe.

At any rate, the car spotted looked exactly like its cartoon counterpart. The rear end styling resembled that of all recent VW Beetles in production. A slipper under a front wheel could mean that it lacked an actual powertrain and brakes. The interior was never photographed.