Volkswagen Up! Lite concept
The Up! range of compact cars from VW is growing, despite production of the vehicles not scheduled to start until 2011Volkswagen's sub-compact city car range, known as Up!, is building momentum with a new three-door concept car revealed this week at the Los Angeles Motor Show.
The Lite joins a number of other Up!-branded concept cars which will form a new range of cost-effective entry level models for the German car company, which are set to begin production in 2011. Volkswagen calls the new concept car a "progressive, fuel efficient and in all details cleverly designed four-seater with a hybrid drive". The Up! Lite measures 3.8 metre long and just 1.6 metres wide.
Making use of a similar powertrain setup to the L1 Concept (which was shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show), the Up! Lite is powered by a hybrid diesel engine. The twin-cylinder 0.8-litre (800cc) turbodiesel engine outputs 38kW/120Nm and is augmented by a 10kW electric motor backed up by a lithium-ion battery pack.
Volkswagen says the concept tips the scales at just 695kg, which together with its tiny diesel-electric hybrid engine and a seven-speed DSG results in an average fuel economy of just 2.4L/100km. Fitted with a tiny 20 litre fuel tank, thus VW claims the Up Lite! concept can travel on one fill. It has a top speed of 160km/h and accelerates from zero to 100km/h in 12.5 seconds, which is slow, but not abysmally so.
The vehicle's light weight is the result of low mass materials, including aluminium and carbon fibre. The roof, for example, weighs just 3.3kg and is fashioned from carbon fibre composite. The extent of the use of these materials in the Up! production vehicles in 2011 remains to be seen.
Volkswagen's aim with the Up! sub-brand is to introduce entry-level vehicles to attract younger, first time buyers to the VW fold. Prices of around under $19,000 -- the starting price of the Polo -- will be needed to achieve this.
Europe's biggest carmaker is heavily invested in the new Up! range, likening the impending compact vehicle range to a very famous car of its past, saying: "Climb in, buckle up and drive away, just like in the legendary Beetle of an earlier era..."
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