The Milivié 1 is a $946k VW Beetle restomod

Yes, you read that right. In what is essentially a Volkswagen Beetle restomod, the Milivié 1 costs €570,000 ($946,504 NZD).

Based on a “hand-selected” VW Beetle 1303 model, the Milivié sets out to bring craftsmanship, engineering and art to one of the world’s most iconic cars.

This insanely priced Beetle was dreamt up by Jonathan Engler, an artistic engineer with a vision to celebrate extinct German automotive icons by re-engineering them into cars that were previously thought to be unimaginable.

Each build is estimated to take over one thousand with nothing more than the metal body and floorboards left over from its donor car.

In keeping with the original Beetle’s air-cooled heritage, the Milivié 1 will feature a 2.28-litre flat four engine which is precision-built for each car connected to a Porsche 911-sourced paddle shift gearbox.

There’s no indication as to how much power this air-cooled creation throws out.

While it isn’t exactly obvious, the Milivié team has supposedly drawn inspiration from other air-cooled classics in the exterior design.

There’s reference to Porsche 904 bodyline elements, 935 exhaust tips, 964 inspired concave indents in the rear fenders, and apparently there’s some Group C Porsche 956 in the Beetle’s “high-cut” rear fenders.

However, the interior makes more of an impression with four individual bucket seats, two 12.3″ screens that replace the original gauges and auxiliary controls, and a contemporary new design.

Just 22 examples will be built to honour the 22 million production output of the VW Beetle.

The first car is said to be delivered by July 2023 with the production run to be completed by May 2025.