I saw a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia on the road recently.
Not at a car show.
Not tucked behind velvet ropes.
Just… driving.
It stopped me in my tracks in a way only certain shapes can. The Karmann Ghia has that effect. Even people who don’t know what it is know that it’s something. Low, elegant, softly sculpted, almost fragile looking by today’s standards. It’s a car that feels more like a piece of industrial design than a machine.
And it got me thinking.
Volkswagen brought back the Bus. The ID.Buzz is everywhere now, leaning hard into nostalgia while still being unmistakably modern. If that can exist, why not the Ghia?
So, off duty, I started sketching. Or rather, prompting. Imagining. Playing.
What would a 2027 Karmann Ghia look like if Volkswagen treated it with the same respect they gave the Bus revival?
The answer, for me at least, wasn’t to go wild or futuristic. The Ghia doesn’t want aggression. It doesn’t want sharp angles or over-styled drama. The original worked because it was restrained. Because it flowed. Because it trusted the shape.
In the renders you see here, I kept that philosophy front and centre.
The proportions stay low and wide.
The surfacing stays smooth and continuous.
The roofline still melts into the rear deck the way only a Ghia can.
But the details are modern: slim LED lighting, flush glass, contemporary wheels, a stance that feels planted rather than delicate. Underneath, it’s imagined as an EV, because honestly, that makes sense. Quiet propulsion suits the Ghia’s personality. This was never a loud car. It was a glider.
And then there’s the convertible.
Some cars demand it. The Karmann Ghia is one of them. In period-correct colours like Turquoise Green, top down, it feels less like a reboot and more like a continuation — as if the line simply skipped a few decades and reappeared.
This kind of retro-mod work has become a bit of a pattern for me. I’m not interested in shock value or “what if we made it extreme.” I’m more interested in what if it simply evolved. What if a designer in Wolfsburg cared deeply about what made the original special and refused to overthink it?
That’s the fun of these Off-Duty projects. There’s no brief, no client, no SEO considerations. Just curiosity and respect for good ideas that never really went out of style.
Would Volkswagen ever build a modern Karmann Ghia? Probably not.
But if they did…
This is what I think it should feel like.
