Volkswagen NZ gives away open-source plans to turn Kombis electric — 2,000 downloads

The Kombi is a cultural icon in New Zealand — the van of the generation that believed in a better world. The problem for Volkswagen was that Kombi owners keep their vans for decades and pass them down, so the brand's push for a more sustainable future could not be delivered by selling them a new electric car. The van itself was the only vehicle they wanted.

DDB Group Aotearoa's answer was The Greenprint: a free, open-source set of plans for turning a Kombi into an electric vehicle in '20 easy-ish steps'. Volkswagen made an all-in-one conversion kit available, or owners could source the parts themselves from an approved list and not pay the company a cent. An online hub explained each step with user-generated videos and FAQs, and was built to be voice-activated for moments when owners were underneath the van with greasy hands.

The campaign made the brand's heritage and its sustainability promise the same thing: instead of asking Kombi lovers to abandon the icon, Volkswagen gave them the means to future-proof it. The tagline captured the logic — sometimes the best new car for the planet is an old one.

The idea travelled far beyond New Zealand's small market: 2,000 plans were downloaded in a country with only around 1,000 registered Kombis, each conversion saving an average of 1.7 tonnes of CO2 a year, and the work collected D&AD 2024 Pencils plus a Gold for Integration at The Caples Awards 2024.