Sid P., Washington – $100
Ken G., Nevada – $100
Brad T., Wisconsin – $100
Tom M., Virginia – $100
Kathy F., New Jersey – $100
John M., Massachusetts – $100
Mike M., California – $100
Carol R., Texas – $100
James D., Georgia – $100
Martha B., New Jersey – $100
Kerry B., Pennsylvania – $100
Three-Wheeled, Two-Passenger Toy
Volkswagen AG dispatched a group of German engineers, planners and marketers to the USA to learn about the American car market. The code name for this group of traveling market monitors was “Moonraker”. The Volkswagen GX3 concept is a product of the Moonraker project.
Volkswagen’s Design Center in California worked with the Moonraker team to develop a new concept for fuel-efficient fun mobility specifically geared toward U.S. buyers. The direction was to create a quintessential and pure driving machine. The inspiration was the minimalist design language found in GP motorcycles and F1 race cars. The result is the GX3. Though not the first time that VW has studied a three-wheeled vehicle, this one the company claims may be built if reaction is positive. VW is looking beyond the typical vehicle shapes and segments to come up with new opportunities for increasing U.S. sales.
At its introduction at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2006, the GX3 created a mob scene when Wolfgang Bernhard, the new head of the Volkswagen group in Germany, drove the GX3 onto the stand. VehicleVoice and AutoPacific correspondents were on hand to learn what GX3 has to offer. The first thing to come to mind is a striking similarity to a twenty-plus year old concept called the Trihawk that used a Peugeot front wheel drive system and a single rear wheel “dragged” along for the ride. Trihawk was purchased by Harley-Davidson in the mid-1980s but never saw production after Harley bought the brand and the vehicle. In those days, Harley was in dire straits and had no resources to expand beyond its bread and butter motorcycle lineup.
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