Brazilian Type-301 Variant II, often pointed out as the best air-cooled Volkswagen at the worst time

With a short production run from '77 to '81, the Volkswagen Variant II was released during a time when Volkswagen was already trying to become "modern" and competitive, which sort of meant getting rid of a dependency for the basic layout of the Beetle on its passenger cars range, even in Brazil where it was the best-selling automaker. As the Variant could be positioned as a more upscale counterpart to both the Beetle and the Brasília, also considering how a more utilitarian role could be fulfilled by the Kombi, the most logical option would be making the early Passat Variant in Brazil, as the Passat had been available in Brazil since '74, and even the McPherson front suspension of the Passat was also fitted to the Variant II in place of the Beetle's superposed trailing arms and torsion beam setup. Sure retaining the air-cooled engine and rear-wheel drive could've been a good option for so many Brazilians, who still used to favor rear-engined Volkswagens due to their better traction than the competition on harsh terrain conditions, and the traditional air-cooled engine regarded as easy to mantain despite the Variant always featuring a dual-carburettor setup in order to clear more space for the rear luggage compartment, which rendered a tune-up more labour-intensive than a single carburettor.

Naturally, as the competition evolved despite the restriction on imports which set the Brazilian market apart from '76 to '90, urban buyers tended to become more favorable to front-engined cars, including Volkswagen's own Passat and Gol, with a front-engined front-wheel drive Volkswagen station wagon in '82 finally making its way to Brazil when the Gol-derived Parati was released, and the Variant II having already been phased out in '81. Despite having a more modern suspension setup which even allowed a more usable space at the "frunk", and a design which was in fact fairly attractive considering the time of its introduction, with styling cues from the smaller Brasília which was released in '73 and soldiered on until '82, clearly the Variant II was disfavored both by competition from similar station-wagons of other manufacturers operating in Brazil at that time, but also had to face a friendly fire as its price was higher than that of a Kombi, which basically meant that anyone willing to get a rear-engined Volkswagen with better interior room than a Beetle or a Brasília could be easily convinced to not even take a look at the Variant II. In the end, despite being praised as the best Brazilian air-cooled Volkswagen for its comfort and handling compared to the Beetle and the Brasília was released at the worst time for air-cooleds...