DESIGN Volkswagen Sharan 2016 @ 60 FPS

(from Volkswagen Press Release) Just in time for the Sharan's 20th birthday, Volkswagen is launching a new version of the people mover. Two decades. Three generations of this multipurpose vehicle (MPV). More than 800,000 Sharans sold. The best-selling German MPV in its class. Used millions of times on the way to kindergarten, schools, sports clubs and holiday destinations. Hundreds of thousands of young people who will go off to university or start work in 2015 or in the coming years grew up with this MPV. The 'Sharan generation'. The highly flexible MPV has done umpteen million kilometres on the way to business meetings and to work. And carried on after work as well: with over 2,600 litres of space for outdoor enthusiasts complete with their bikes and boards. 20 years of motoring life with no problems of space. Time for a look back.
Spring 1991
Four years before the world premiere of the Sharan: in the digital sphere Swede Linus Torvalds launches the Linux operating system; Ötzi is found in the Alps and Ayrton Senna becomes world champion for the third time. In spring 1991, work on developing the new MPV has just begun. Vehicle manufacturers call this stage the product development process. Although it's 48 months until the start of production, time is flying by. So far, there is still no approved design and no production plant for the people mover. But the concept is agreed. The plan is to broaden Volkswagen's product portfolio by adding a perfectly thought-out B-segment MPV. The inventor of the 'VW Campervan' sets to it and, leading the way in conjunction with the Ford Motor Company, sets up a joint venture called 'AutoEuropa Automóveis Lda' in Palmela, Portugal. It is there, 40 kilometres from Lisbon, that Europe's most modern MPVs - the Sharan, the SEAT Alhambra and the Ford Galaxy - are to be built. For now, they are still being developed. Work is still being done on the engineering and design. In the case of the Sharan, the latter is finalised around two years before the start of full production with the so-called 'design freeze'.
Autumn 1994
One year before the world premiere of the new Sharan: Michael Schumacher becomes world champion for the first time and Pink Floyd announce their return with the album 'The Division Bell', on which Stephen Hawking is heard via speech synthesiser on the song 'Keep Talking'. The first sycamore trees on the Avenue des Champs-Élysees are already turning an autumnal shade by the time the Volkswagen Communications team announce the Sharan's name on 10th October at the Paris Motor Show. At the same time, Volkswagen unveils a prototype of the future MPV, with an engine enhanced in its performance by Porsche.
Spring 1995
The year of the Sharan's world premiere: German Thomas Reiter will fly to the Mir space station, Christo wrap up the Reichstag in Berlin and Queen publish their last studio album, 'Made in Heaven'. On 9th March, at the Geneva International Motor Show the new Sharan is revealed to the public. The design, with a front section reminiscent of that of the then ultramodern ICE trains, the spatial concept and the engineering layout are all well received. Volkswagen itself writes in the accompanying press kit: "Sharan - it sounds oriental and exotic. It certainly has an air of freedom, independence and self-determination. That is precisely what the new people mover from Volkswagen aims to offer - as an innovative vehicle for the whole family. For outings with friends. For joie de vivre on the road. With the freedom to be able to take everything with you that you want: an MPV, a genuine 'multipurpose vehicle'."
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