Volkswagen's first electric car is on the Up!

German carmaker Volkswagen has started the wave of electric-car unveilings on the eve of the 2009 Frankfurt motor show this morning Aussie time.

At a gala event on the night before the doors officially open to the media, the company revealed a fully electric version of its city car that it calls the Up! Further, the most senior executive within the Volkswagen Group, Professor Martin Winterkorn, also gave the strongest support yet for the electric car revolution.

The boss of Europe's biggest carmaker and the third biggest automaker globally delivered an emphatic speech that is sure to set the tone for the coming days – and years.

"This is not hype, the electric car era is upon us," he said. "In the past people have focused on horsepower but now they focus on efficiency and emissions.

"The future will belong to sustainable transport, and we have all the expertise of our engineers working on this right now. We are full speed ahead."

Winterkorn said Volkswagen was committed to taking electric cars: "out of an environmental niche and bring it into the mainstream".

In addition to its electric car programs, he said Volkswagen was working on new lightweight materials, as well as finding new levels of fuel efficiency.

But in his address to the media he repeatedly stressed VW's push for electric cars.

"We believe a safe, affordable and reliable electric car is possible," he said.

The electric version of the Up! is 30mm shorter than the four-seat hatchback unveiled two years ago. This latest concept is also a four-seater except you don't refuel it, rather you plug it in to a power socket hidden behind the VW badge on the bonnet.

Solar panels on the roof help keep the battery charged while the car is parked. And in another neat trick: the electric Up! comes with a battery-powered electric scooter that recharges itself via the car. It's designed so that owners can complete their inner city commutes with electric power.

The concept car has a 60kW/200Nm electric motor that powers the front wheels. It has a driving range of 130km and a top speed of 130km/h and completes the 0 to 100km/h sprint in 11 seconds -- giving it about the same pace as a Toyota Yaris 1.3.

Winterkorn also said it was Volkswagen's aim to become the world's biggest carmaker by 2018.

"We are going to step on the gas," he said.

In the first six months of this year Volkswagen sales globally are up when the rest of the car market is down. The company grew its market share by 1.8 per cent in the past six months to take 11.7 per cent of the global market, putting it comfortably in the top three brands with Toyota and General Motors.

Check out the Carsales Network’s Frankfurt show preview and brand-by-brand summaries. And stay tuned for more Frankfurt show news and first drives in the days to come.

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