New people's car stars at VW gala

Forget the current Golf-based bubble, Volkswagen's true spiritual successor to the Beetle capped off a night of eight world premieres in Frankfurt just hours ago.

The up! concept, a car that points to Volkswagen's future for both established and emerging markets was the last of the world firsts -- one from each of the Volkswagen Group's brands plus VW's Commercial vehicle division -- to be presented in a specially-converted basketball stadium on the German city's outskirts.

In front of 1500 media from 62 countries on the eve of arguably the world's most important motorshow, the Volkswagen Group rolled out its heavy hitters. All of the group's eight marque's respective chairmen or CEOs were on hand to present their company's latest.

And though the up!'s diminutive powerplant was swamped by mega-horsepower cars from Bugatti, Bentley (more here) and Lamborghini; its physical size dwarfed by VW Commercial's new Caddy Maxi Life, Audi's new A4 (more here) and even Skoda's new Fabio Combi (wagon); and its styling rendered remarkably understated alongside Seat's Tribu concept SAV, the four-place, three-door show's car importance is hard to overstate.

That VW boss Martin Winterkorn spent his post-presentation media duties standing hard and fast in front of the up! speaks volumes for the importance of the car. That it has had its public debut, albeit in concept form, just eight months after Winterkorn took the reigns at the automotive conglomerate is a statement of intent. Make no mistake, VW is serious about this car.

Many aspects of the cars design are still a work-in-progress. VW talks of two and three-cylinder engines and "all facets of technology that can be sensibly applied" powering the up! but there's no hard facts on engine capacity nor configuration.

What is definite is the engine's location. The ultra tight front overhang is a giveaway but peek under the rear of the showcar and you can see the close-coupled engine and transmission (from first glance, a CVT).

Also definite is the marque's aims for fuel efficiency -- it will better 3.5lt/100km in production trim promised Winterkorn, but the aim is to beat 3.0lt/100km.

Tightly proportioned inside and out, the show car featured four individual seats with the rear luggage area floor raised perhaps 70-90mm higher than a 'normal' supermini to clear the powertrain packaging. In the concept, at least all seats, with the exception of the drivers, can be folded and removed. VW suggests that they can be stowed in the "front trunk".

Befitting its concept car status, the up! also featured innovative instrumentation and almost CGI-style navigation graphics.

Overall the car is 3.45m long and 1.63m wide. Track is a whopping 1.42m, almost redefining the 'wheel at each corner' look in the process.

In a brief doorstop with the VW Group and brand boss, Winterkorn told the Carsales Network the car is at least three years from production. It was conceived as a global product, he said.

"We [still] have to design this car. It depends on what the customers and what the press guys are telling me, but everybody already is saying please build the car. We can do that in three years I think," he said.

"This car could be a car for normal transportation in emerging markets but it could also be a car for the huge European cities for [fashion conscious] ladies or for young guys," Winterkorn added.

The VW boss confirmed too, that the car would be launched into established markets first. This statement alone puts paid to suggestions the car might first see the light of day via Volkswagen's latest production facilities under construction in India.

Volkswagen Australia boss Jutta Dierks was also on hand for the evening.

According to Dierks up! has the potential to change VW's dynamics in markets like Asia-Pacific.

"We haven't had a car for [developing markets in] these areas. They have understood that our current products are too expensive.

"Yes, we have the safety features and the quality and 30-year durability but that isn't necessarily what emerging markets are after. We need to strike a balance between maintaining our core standards but also satisfy the [new markets'] price requirements," she said.

Dierks said the platform underpinning the up! would be flexible enough to do exactly that -- deliver the sort of quality MINI and Fiat 500 buyers might demand and yet be affordable in emerging market variants.

Rolled out under VW Group's new "Driving Ideas" mantra, the evening saw at the other end of the performance spectrum, the unveiling of new bespoke models from Lamborghini and Bugatti.

Lambo's Reventon is a fettled and rebodied Murciealago LP640 that takes its styling cues from the F22 Raptor fighter. Just 20 of the 650hp supercars will be built and delivered in 2008 -- at a cool 1m euro plus taxes, etc. And yes, they are all sold.

Bugatti's addition was not a convertible as rumoured but an even more bespoke and "purer" version of the EB 16.4 Veyron.

Dubbed the Pur Sang ('pure blood' or thoroughbred literally), the new car's production run will be just a quarter of the Lambo's. And your 1.4m euro doesn't even get you paint -- the five Pur Sangs will all feature polished alloy panels and unadulterated carbon-fibre everywhere else.

Look out for more from the Frankfurt Show including more images of the up!, Pur Sang and Reventon after the official opening this evening Australian time.

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