The development of this rear-engine prototype began in 1957 and didn’t come to fruition until 1960. And while most (if not all) of these experimental Beetle replacements were one-offs, the EA97 was not one of them.
By all accounts, Volkswagen was highly pleased with its design and had its employees hand-build some 200 of these two-door sedans. In fact, it even gave the green light for a fully operational production line to be erected. The elongated, almost pontoon-shaped body was powered by a 1.1-liter 67.1 cubic inch opposed 4-cylinder and had a vast trunk in the front.
However, before the production line was even completed, VW decided it was too similar in class to the Beetle and the Type 3, which was also in development and subsequently released in 1961. So, VW changed its mind and shut down the whole project entirely.
Interestingly, more than a decade later, the EA97 would find its way back on the road — tangentially, at least. Strands of its DNA are said by some to be present within VW’s Brasilia, a rear-engine compact vehicle designed and built entirely in Brazil and marketed for South America.
[Image by Charles01 via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]
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