Have you ever seen a Volkswagen Golf or Rabbit with body panels of various colors? This doesn’t mean the owner visited a junkyard to find the right body panels and hasn’t painted them; it’s the Harlequin VW look. This look could return in the new Volkswagen ID.3 lineup. It might seem strange, but the multi-color look first appeared in a 1964 VW Beetle ad.

The Harlequin VW wasn’t a one-time ad

The 1964 advertisement wasn’t the one and only time a multi-colored VW appeared. The company put the 1995 MK3 Polo Harlequin into production in Europe. This car wore four distinct body panel colors, which were:

• Tornado Red
• Chagall Blue
• Ginster Yellow
• Pistachio Green

This odd color scheme caught on and became a popular choice for this car in Europe. The desire for this paint scheme was so high that VW gave the little hatchback a 3,000-unit run.

How did the Golf receive this color scheme?

The desire for the Harlequin VW paint scheme grew to the point that the company chose to produce some models of the VW Golf in this color pattern at the Puebla, Mexico, plant. The demand for the Golf Harlequin wasn’t quite as strong as the Polo, but VW built 264 examples in the discombobulated paint scheme.

When VW built these Golf models, they made them in a single color and then rearranged the body panels to follow the pattern of the European models.

The Golf Harlequin was sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Is a new VW ready to wear the multi-color paint scheme?

Now, it seems a new vehicle with a quad-color paint scheme could be in the near future. This new Harlequin VW showed itself earlier this week. The new VW ID.3 has a similar shape to the Golf and could be the first to appear with a clownish look.

Volswagen might first send this new small electric ID to the European market. This was the most successful run of the colorful VW from many years ago.

Yes, it’s another prank

The first report on the Harlequin VW paint scheme and ID.3 came out just as March changed to April. We’ve come to expect a few jokes and pranks from automakers when it turns to April Fool’s Day. This tease gave us a video and several photos to enjoy, featuring what could be a limited ID.3 Harlequin, but it’s just a joke.

Still, could there be a little truth to the joke? It seems possible that anyone who owns the ID.3 could easily paint the car in this clownish and colorful paint scheme if they really want to.

Source: MotorTrend