SPY PICS: Volkswagen's 'Insight' takes to the road

The viable '1.0-litre' car has been a dream long cherished by Volkswagen. In fact, the idea dates back almost ten years — to 2002, when Ferdinand Piech, Chairman of VW's board of management at the time, drove a concept car to a meeting of stockholders in Hamburg, from Volkswagen's home base in Wolfsburg.

Volkswagen has never given up on making such a car a production reality, and now spy pics published by enthusiast website autoblog.com have revealed a real, live rendition ready for production. Based on the XL1 concept car that made its debut in Qatar just over 12 months ago (pictured), the production model seems to have dispensed with the concept car's rear wheel spats — although they may have simply been removed for testing.

According to Autoblog and their spy photographers, the production XL1 won't be a firebreather at all. 32 seconds to reach 50MPH (around 80km/h) and a reported top speed of 75MPH (120km/h). And from what Autoblog reports, the XL1 is smaller than it looks — presumably smaller than the conventional Polo hatch, in fact.

If the production model follows the same path set by the concept, it will be a hybrid featuring a two-cylinder turbodiesel to achieve the ultra-low fuel consumption figure. To our eyes, it looks very much the way Honda's original Insight from the late 1990s would have looked if development had continued on that car. When you're a car company locked into a wind-cheating front-wheel drive city car — there are only so many design directions you can take...

STOP PRESS: Pictures supplied by Carparazzi overnight also show the XL1 during the same testing session. The spy photographers point to the test vehicle's conventional mirrors as one point of difference from the show car. They also refute the lower performance figures quoted in the Autoblog, suggesting the production model will follow very closely the stats for the show car, including a 0-100km/h time of 11.9 seconds, which is a lot less shabby than the 32 seconds to 80km/h time reported earlier. Further information to hand, based on the show car's specs, suggests the engine will displace 800cc and drive through a seven-speed DSG to the rear wheels. While the diesel develops 121Nm of torque, the electric motor onboard is rated at up to 100Nm and VW is claimimg the actual fuel consumption will be around 0.9L/100km. Range on electric power alone will be around 35km, before the batteries need recharging. All-up weight is expected to be close to the concept cars (795kg) and the drivetrain will account for 227kg of the total.

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