Skip to main content

Interview: Klaus Bischoff’s Favorite, and Least Favorite Cars

As head of design at Volkswagen, Klaus Bischoff has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. The German went to school in Braunschweig, not far from Wolfsburg, and has been working at Volkswagen since he left school. Not only that, but his first and second cars were Volkswagens. Bischoff has VW in his veins, and as such knows the what driving VW design means.

Recently, at the Detroit auto show, VW Vortex had the opportunity to speak to Bischoff, and we naturally wanted to know what cars he thought had some of the most important designs in history. “Easy,” he said. Not only was the Volkswagen Beetle is first car, it was his first love. Given to him by his family, the Bug, he says is one of his favorite designs.

1974 Volkswagen Beetle HR

Next, he says, was the microbus. “The first car that I [bought] on my own was a T2,” explains Bischoff. “I kept it for quite a bit, but then I had to scrap it,” he says, his voice heavy with regret.

t2-2

Moving forward in time, Bischoff says that the Golf GTI/R are some of his favorite designs.

2015_gti_and_mk1_gti_3977

Similarly, says Bischoff, old Porsches get his motor running. “The Porsche 911 Targa is very nice,” he says, also noting the 356.

porsche_911_targa_3

Finally, Bischoff, says that he likes the design of the new Tiguan.

VW Tiguan LWB 4

When asked which cars he thinks are less pretty, meanwhile, Bischoff, like the rest of us, goes straight to the Aztek. “With all respect to the creative work of those guys,” he says, “one has to admit that the Pontiac Aztek was not a brilliant piece of design.”

1280px-2002-05_pontiac_aztek

As for more recently designed cars, Bischoff has opinions of Ssangyong. “There’s some of the Ssangyong cars that make you wonder,” he says. At the very least, he says that they are not to his tastes, he said, but I’m not quite sure to whose tastes they are.

ssangyong_actyon_front_20080303

The post Interview: Klaus Bischoff’s Favorite, and Least Favorite Cars appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2jfi4rs
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT

Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Mitsubishi , Fuel Efficiency , Japan Mitsubishi says its shady fuel-economy test practices may have been used on all vehicles it sells and has sold in Japan. Continue reading Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2016 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments from Autoblog Volkswagen http://ift.tt/21X3bHv