If you want a car that looks like it was painted by a preschooler, now might be your change.
Key Takeaways
- VW’s Harlequin project revived with an electrified ID.3 edition for April Fool’s Day.
- The unique Harlequin paintwork features green, yellow, blue, and red colors, lighting up and pulsing with the car’s sound system.
- The limited-edition ID.3 Harlequin is a one-off prank.
VW’s Harlequin project dates back to 1964 when the German carmaker ran an ad with a Beetle wearing a patchwork of different colors to showcase how interchangeable the body panels were. Fast-forward to 1995 and VW released a limited run of Polo Harlequin hatchbacks with multi-colored body work in Europe and a few Golf variants (264 to be exact) for the US market to enjoy.
That famous paintwork has now been reborn with an electrified twist for a special April Fool’s Day prank, dubbed the Electroluminescent ID.3 Harlequin Edition.
Related
The Volkswagen Polo Harlequin Is Back!
But only as a one-off.
It’s Paintwork…But Not As You Know It
The Harlequin paintwork used a mix of green, yellow, blue, and red with the colors reminiscent of the Harlequin theater characters that date back to the 12th century. Customers only discovered which panels were painted which color on delivery, and now VW is cheekily claiming that the Volkswagen ID.3 will be offered with this paint design using electroluminescent paint. The panels are said to light up and pulse in sync with the car’s sound system and integrate with the ChatGPT functionality that VW recently rolled out.
(Un)Available From April 1
Volkswagen says the limited-edition ID.3 Harlequin is available from today, April 1, and that designs can be viewed on its configurator using the code ‘JEST 1’ – just in case you are in any doubt that this is an April Fool’s joke.
If you like the design and are disappointed this is just a friendly wind up, then Maserati might sell you the one-off Gran Turismo Prisma that boasted a 14-color paint job using colors from past Maserati models. Alternatively, VW’s Dutch division built a one-off Polo Harlequin model as a nod to the 1995 original back in 2021, and if you ask nicely enough perhaps they’ll sell you one.