Volkswagen Brazil Phasing Out Kombi Van After 60 Years

VIENNA – Volkswagen Brazil will phase out production of its VW Kombi van before the end of this year as the result of new auto-safety standards requiring front airbags and antilock braking systems on all new cars starting in January.

The German auto maker is marking the production phaseout by offering a special model called the Kombi Last Edition.

Limited to 600 units, priced at BR86,300 ($36,100) and available only in Brazil, the passenger van features 2-tone exterior paint and design elements reminiscent of various Kombis made in Brazil since the 1950s. The vehicle is powered by VW’s EA111 1.4L Total Flex engine with 78 hp in E20 gasoline mode and 80 hp if only ethanol is used.

More than 1.55 million Kombis were manufactured in Sao Bernardo do Campo between September 1957 and July 2013. Starting in the 1970s, the van was exported to more than 100 countries with Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Nigeria, Venezuela and Uruguay as the main markets.

Assembly of the first Kombi, known as VW T1 in Europe, started in Brazil in 1953 in a storage hall in Sao Paulo using German-sourced assembly kits. Sales of the T1 in Germany had begun three years earlier.

Kombi assembly switched to regular production in 1957 at VW’s Anchieta plant in Sao Bernardo do Campo starting with about 50% local content. The Kombi was the first VW model actually manufactured in Brazil, predating even the Beetle.

Volkswagen launched production of the second-generation Brazilian Kombi, a mix of the T1 and its European successor T2, in 1975 and switched to the T2 in 1997.

In the U.S., the German-imported T2 commonly was called the Microbus and was associated with the hippie lifestyle in the 1960sand 1970s.

VW considered bringing a new model with design cues from the T1 as a minivan entry to the U.S. in 2001, but decided there was not enough demand. The original Microbus T2 sold 480,000 units in the U.S. from 1967-1971.