Sometimes, your budget just won’t stretch to cover the latest toy. It’s alright, we’ve all been there. Hell, my newest gaming console is a pre-slim Xbox 360, my TV is tiny, and I bought an iPhone 12 Mini right after the iPhone 13 launched. However, when a vehicle as distinctive as the Tesla Cybertruck launches, what substitute is out there? Sure, you could build your own out of plywood, but that takes skill and time. Instead, what if an alternative already existed, possibly with easy-to-source mechanicals and maybe from some far-off land like Brazil? Yep, this Renha Formigão is what happens when your mum says we have a Cybertruck at home, and it is simply marvelous.
If you frequent The Autopian, you’ll probably know about my colleague Jason’s thing for weird Brazilian Volkswagen-based cars. After all, Brazil was a peculiar market in the 1970s with local market protections that promoted some intriguing creations like the Volkswagen-based Puma GT sports coupe, the rebadged Alpine A108 known as the Willys Interlagos, and the awesome Chevrolet Opala. Of course, the insular market also created a whole lot of glorious weirdness, and the Renha Formigão is a prime example.
Way back in the 1970s, a small Brazilian automaker named Renha Indústria e Comércio de Vehículos came out with a small truck that, if you squint, looks a little bit like a Tesla Cybertruck. Sure, the sail panels don’t carry over, but you get a similar designed-with-a-ruler look, a flat windscreen that’s very nearly on the same plane as the hood, and a miniscule dash-to-axle ratio. After nightfall and about seven to ten beers, the primary difference when seeing one drive by will be size rather than styling.
Well, Brazil’s love for Volkswagen componentry holds the key. Underneath the bed of the Renha Formigão sits the running gear of a Volkswagen Beetle, which is weird because the Beetle engine doesn’t exactly have the most compact engine accessory package. As a result, the Formigão’s bed contains a pronounced protrusion at the back, which doesn’t make it the most useful vehicle for high-volume, low-density loads. However, a payload capacity of 1,433 pounds is nothing to sneeze at, especially given this truck’s tiny footprint and fiberglass body.
For those looking to get really nerdy, the headlights of this tiny hauler came from the Fiat 147, and that grille on the front was entirely fake. After all, the 1.6-liter Volkswagen engine was air-cooled, so there was absolutely no need for a radiator. Interestingly enough, the battery and spare tire were packaged behind the seats, so I can only imagine that the frunk was reasonably commodious, even when considering how much space a fuel tank takes up.
Sadly, the production run of the Renha Formigão was quite short. Launched for 1977, Lexicar Brasil reports that it only lived as a new vehicle until 1980, when its maker decided to focus on other ventures. While a relaunch of the truck in 1986 as the Coyote Country was attempted, proof of actual results remains inconclusive. However, perhaps as a result of the balmy Brazilian climate and the truck being constructed out of fiberglass, a handful of Renha Formigão examples still exist today.
This one went at auction in Brazil a few years ago for roughly the equivalent of $5,400, which seems downright cheap for something that looks a bit like a Cybertruck if you squint. Granted, it was listed as a 1971 Coyote, which definitely doesn’t sound right, but such are the liberties taken with boutique cars with histories largely lost to time.
Maybe it’s the taut fitment of the soft tonneau cover or the dashing good looks of the vintage alloy wheels, but there’s a sense of ritziness to this Renha Formigão that belies its pedestrian underpinnings. The gleaming silver paint of this particular example also highlights the Cybertruck-if-you-squint-ness of the styling, although I reckon the contoured bodysides give this Brazilian special a little extra elegance over its American cousin.
Alright, so maybe calling this thing a Brazilian Cybertruck is a bit of a stretch, but the Renha Formigão is one seriously cool little pickup truck perfect for urban errands, junkyard runs, and the like. Now, who’s brave enough to find one, bring it to America, and park it in the nearest non-EV parking spot next to a Tesla Supercharger station?
(Photo credits: Picelli Leiloes, Renha)
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Put in EV powertrain. Go to Supercharger. Watch Tesla stan’s minds blow. Much win.
See, that’s why I like the Cybertruck looks in principle – it evokes the idea of something weird, uncomplicated and crazy.
This car does it for real, being just a fiberglass bathtub with palaeolithic mechanics. Honest, basic transportation with form that follows function.
Tesla, on the other hand, had it ass backwards. They are hiding a shawarma of unnecessary complication under that low-poly exterior, because the form completely tramples function.
I still like the Cybertruck, despite Tesla and Elon, but I just realized that the car is a poser!
I spy a Porsche badge on the front of that car from the auction link. Wishful thinking?
To compare this to the cybertruck is an insult to this cool little truck.
Make way for the Big Ant! I would happily have paid $5400 for this thing and parked it between my Brasília and F-1000 at my beach-house in Maricá, had all of those things been a current reality and not a hopeful retirement plan.
Yet another interesting Brazilian vehicle I had not known about until it showed up here – thanks! Brazilian automotive history is the gift that keeps on giving.
Next time you’re found, with your chin on the ground
There a lot to be learned, so look around
Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can’t
Move a rubber tree plant
But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes
So any time you’re gettin’ low
‘Stead of lettin’ go
Just remember that ant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Shirley you can’t be serious.
Thomas, can you please explain dash-to-axle ratio? What two things is it a ratio of?
Looks more like one of those old 70s model kits of a van with the dog house and a bed instead of a body
The best part of this car is “Formigão” literally means “Big Ant” in Portuguese
Ok, that makes sense. I thought maybe it was about looking like a cheese wedge.
Love this! Reminds me a bit of a Brubaker Box. Some fender flares and nice wheels would really set it off.
I certainly like the powertrain better.
With so many conversion kits for Beetle out there, most being bolt-on it would be hilarious to see these converted to EV
Love it!!
Same reaction here! Never heard of it before, but I love it! Good job, Thomas, channeling that Torch vibe!
So ugly it’s awesome. I would drive it……ironically.
Much more human-scaled as well. I like it.
My first thought was something involving a Sebring Vanguard CitiCar, but obscure Brazilian thing on a VW chassis is usually a good second guess.
You mean the BETTER thing (that isn’t a Thing).
…
Is this where I recommend a Volkswagen Thing?
I had a Thing briefly! When I sold it on ebay, I used the the phrase “If you buy it, you can ask people if they want to see your Thing, and you won’t get arrested!”
If you own one, is it a rule that you have to have that Phil Harris song on a loop? Because that might get old
I had to look that one up.
Boooooo…
Looks so much better than the cyber truck
Over $60000 less, can hold just as many adults in the back seat, and it’s immediately obvious how you’d haul a ladder with it…. Sign me up!
You can’t figure out how to put a ladder in a cybertruck bed?
Heck, Elon Musk couldn’t figure out how to get customers into a Cybertruck for years!
I guess I didn’t specify how long a ladder.
You don’t put ladders in the bed of a pickup truck. You put them on a rack. (Except maybe a stepladder.)
If you google “Cybertruck ladder rack” you’ll find quite a few lovely renderings of products that don’t exist and the official “tool rack” that is apparently named for what it makes the driver look like.
I’ve put pretty big ladders in beds, and considerably longer ones up on a headache rack, I’m not convinced ladder racks are at all necessary for anybody who’s not a professional painter or maybe tree trimmer.
I don’t think it would be any more difficult to make and attach a Cybertruck ladder rack than for this thing, or most other pickups for that matter.
Reliant of the UK couldn’t have made that front hatch look any worse..
I mean, come on, get into it a little, fibreglass aren’t THAT hard to make reasonable stuff out of.
The overall shape – and even the cool wheels – looks like some quick alternative reality mockup by The Bishop 🙂
It wouldn’t take much modification to really pull off a mini me, and it wouldn’t present any undo danger to others. The Automotive news today has sorta blown up about safety experts voicing serious concerns about the Cybertruck’s “exoskeleton”.
Sound familiar?
The bed is longer than I expected. For $5,400 I would daily the hell out of this. I like the wheels, and they seem a bit familiar. Was there an 80s water cooled that came with these or something like?
Forgot to say: too bad they’re so rare because it would be fun to fabricate some removable sail panels to bring it closer to the CT just for trolling.
Finally clicked: looks like the CitiCar stretched into a Ute with a slightly flattened Mazda B200 bed. Maybe that why I like it
I’d bite for the right price
I would totally own the hell out of this
I feel like “better looking than the Cybertruck” is becoming the new “still a better love story than Twilight” but, well, that is a hell of a lot better looking than the Cybertruck
Cheesy
Oh, wait, ant. A Portuguese ant. It is eating my cheese.
I’m not to proud to admit I read “fromagio”.
Ant-cheese?