VW Beetle Dune Outdoor-03

Wolfsburg has released a gallery of the Volkswagen Beetle Dune concept in action, on tarmac in sunny Sylt, Germany. The Dune remains a concept car, but everything about it is feasible – it is practically a production vehicle, in VW's own words.

First seen at the Detroit show early this year, the Beetle Dune's body has been raised by 50 mm, while 19-inch wheels with large tyres give it an all-terrain look. A rear-mounted ski-rack is reminiscent of those fitted to classic Beetles. In the summer, it could hold a sandboard – the ideal accessory for surfing the sand dunes from which this car takes its name from.

This tall bug uses the donor car's 210 PS 2.0 TSI engine and six-speed DSG combo, providing power to the front wheels - despite the looks, it's not 4WD, but the Dune does come with VW's XDS electronic diff lock.

We don't see the point of VW releasing this set of pics to the media to "prove" that the concept is "practically a production vehicle", unless it is actually heading to production. Looks cool, doesn't it?