Pint-size VW to shock and awe

Volkswagen will announce the all-important starting price for its smallest ever model in mid-September, a few weeks before the all-new up! rolls into Australian showrooms from October.

The up! – Volkswagen’s first sub-compact model to be sold in Australia – will be available here from launch in both three- and five-door hatchback body styles, powered solely by a 55kW/95Nm 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine matched with a five-speed manual transmission.

A five-speed single-clutch automated manual ASG version, which also received Australian Design Rule certification earlier this month, will become available here next year.

Federal design approval documents reveal both up! body derivatives will be available here in a single well-specified model variant with a high level of standard safety equipment, including twin front and side airbags, electronic stability/traction control, ABS brakes and rear foglights. The 880kg up! is stopped by 256mm front brake discs and 250mm rear drums.

Interestingly, however, air-conditioning, power windows/mirrors, central locking, front foglights and daytime running lights are listed as optional features, as are alloy wheels. All up! models will apparently ride as standard on 14-inch steel wheels with 165/70-section tyres, with 15- and 16-inch alloys also on the options list at this stage.

Volkswagen continues to hold price and specification details close to its chest for competitive reasons, but says the up! remains on target to land here with a starting price of less than $15,000, positioning it at least $2000 downstream from the cheapest Polo five-door ($16,990 plus on-road costs), following the discontinuation of mainstream three-door models.

A base price of, say, $14,990 will give the German giant its first direct competitor for Australia’s most popular light-cars, including Toyota’s new Yaris and Honda’s Jazz (both of which start at $14,990), as well as Kia’s new Rio (from $15,290), Hyundai’s i20 (from $15,490), the Mazda2 (from $15,790) and Holden’s Barina (from $15,990).

Volkswagen Group Australia spokesman Karl Gehling would not reveal details, but indicated the up! – both body derivatives of which measure just 3540mm long, 1641mm wide, 1476mm high and ride on a 2407mm wheelbase - will come with a price and equipment list designed to take both customers and rivals by surprise.

“It’s a very competitive end of the market, in which pricing is very sensitive,” he said. “But rest assured it will change people’s perceptions of Volkswagen. We have some surprises in store.”

As we reported when we drove the five-door up! in Wolfsburg earlier this year, the up! is available with a host of high-tech features in Europe – where its combined fuel consumption is listed at just 4.2L/100km - including a colour touchscreen infotainment system and low-speed automatic collision avoidance function.

Despite being a full 660mm shorter than a Golf, the well packaged up! four-seater offers minimum luggage space of about 250 litres, made more flexible by 60/40-split folding rear seats.

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