Production Volkswagen up! coming in 2010
Last fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show,Volkswagen unveiled their entry in the micro-car derby, the up! Yes, the name is goofy, but the car is cute and is apparently headed for production in 2010. AutoExpress has some contacts deep within Wolfsburg who have reported that the production up! will come down the assembly line looking almost identical to the concept. The basic shape of the 11.5 ft body is virtually unchanged although the head and tail lights the bumper will be revised. VW engineers are working on a pair of 600cc turbocharged two cylinder engines for the up! fueled by a choice of gasoline or diesel. The goal is to get both models under 100g/km of CO2 emissions and achieve combined fuel economy of 78mpg (U.S.). Plans call for up!s with 3 and 5 doors as well as a slightly larger MPV version. In order to help meet the EU CO2 emissions rules, other brands within the VW group will also get cars based on the same platform with versions in developing countries starting as low as $8,000. It's not going to be a challenger for the Tata Nano, but then again it's not meant to be.
[Source: AutoExpress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 7:09PM (4/18/2008)
Will this be coming to the US?
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hodad66 2:37PM (4/17/2008)
Cheap & very fuel efficient would be extremely nice! I was signed up for the Smart but got my money back as the MPG increase was simply not that great. Looking to 2009 - 2010 for electric or diesel-hybrid...
I hope........
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eddy 3:07PM (4/17/2008)
Martin Winterkorn (Volkswagens CEO) mentioned an all-electric Version of the new Lupo (the up!'s production name) for 2011.But I think that a 600 ccm Diesel engine would be very fuel-efficient, too.
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mike 5:00PM (4/17/2008)
eddy, Did he mention US availability or just the "Homeland" for the Electric version.
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Jay 5:18PM (4/18/2008)
I love this site, but the most frustrating aspect of its global nature is that I seldom know what country the author lives in/posts from, and correspondingly, I never know what regions the steady stream of "coming soon!" posts refer to. The most common comment is: "will this be coming to the US?"
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snm.grr 10:01AM (4/18/2008)
I want one of the Diesel ones. I would pre-order this NOW if the Diesel version is coming to the US. My wife drives 60 to 70 city miles a day, and her Passat gets about 19mpg in the city :( Reports are that the Diesel version of this car could get as much as 94mpg - if it gets even 70% of that, I'd be happy!
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BChau 6:52AM (4/20/2008)
I am anxiously waiting for the electric version of the Space Up! If VW is bringing it to Australia, I would be the first to queue up for it.
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