High fuel prices have started to change the way Americans look at transportation, and several automakers are rushing to market smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles onto US roads. Daimler Benz is in the final stages of launching the Smart fortwo city car here in the US, and Volkswagen is looking at entering the fray with their own mini compact, the Up!. The stylish Up! was unveiled in Frankfurt on Monday, and Adrian Hallmark, head of Volkswagen of America, has already informed Wolfsburg that the US market is interested.
It's hard to gauge how the fortwo will do here in the States due to its freakishly small size and seating for only two, but the VW Up! concept has a rear-engine, rear drive configuration with room for four. A sedan with roughly the same amount of interior space as a previous generation Golf will likely be available for US consumers if the vehicle goes to production in the next few years. We just hope VW can achieve incredible fuel economy with the good looks of the concept, while offering the Up! at the low prices that once made the original Beetle such a smash hit.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
New KITT Attack Mode revealed at Comic Con
London 2008: Honda OSM concept roadster says, "Cheerio!"
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora
2010 Chevy Camaro - Official Details and Images
2010 Chevy Camaro - LIVE from the reveal
First Drive: Maserati Quattroporte S in Europe
First Drive: 2008 MINI Cooper S JCW
In the Autoblog Garage:2009 Nissan GT-R
North American Exclusive First Drive: Alfa MiTo
First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Andy S @ Sep 15th 2007 12:04PM
The news that VW is going back to rear engines will perplex many former Beetle owners, nearly all of whom have spun their car at least once.
I'll be surprised if the Up! has much luggage space with a motor in back and a radiator up front.
tad @ Sep 15th 2007 12:08PM
It won't need a front radiator as far as I had seen at the IAA. The radiator is hidden in the back.
Mike @ Sep 15th 2007 6:01PM
There is nothing wrong with RWD, in fact it is superior.
The only reason car manufacturers moved to FWD was
to build cars cheaply. How do you think your parents
got around?
Now, rear-engined is another story, however Porsche
seems to have done well with it.
Barney @ Sep 15th 2007 11:03PM
"former Beetle owners, nearly all of whom have spun their car at least once."
They probably have better driving skills now. I never did "spun" my Squareback.
Mike @ Sep 16th 2007 1:13PM
Have done some pretty crazy things in the 5 air-cooled beetles and 1 bus I have owned. Spinning is not one of those things.
tad @ Sep 15th 2007 12:08PM
I'd be glad to own one of these, unless the pricing will be decend.
At the IAA I just read it'll go down to 100 mpg with a small 3cyl diesel like its precessor did: The Lupo. Hope this one makes it to the market soon!
zamafir @ Sep 15th 2007 1:13PM
the head of vw also indicated there will be two more concepts show on this platform at the next to international auto show - and that vw will bring a 250mpg car to market in 2010. I don't think the two statements are unrelated.
tad @ Sep 15th 2007 1:47PM
250 mpg???
How on earth will they realize that one? That's 1.0l/100km for in metrics. That's really heavy only one concept car reached so far ... and that one was a three-wheeled two seater. Maybe they've got some hybrid or purely electrical miracle in mind.
zamafir @ Sep 15th 2007 3:44PM
"Volkswagen will am Ende dieses Jahrzehnts ein Auto anbieten, das auf 100 Kilometern nur einen Liter Benzin verbraucht. "Wir wollen das Ein-Liter-Auto 2010 auf den Markt bringen", sagte VW-Aufsichtsratschef Ferdinand Piëch der "Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung" am Rande der IAA"
I guess we'll have to wait two years to find out at the next show.
tad @ Sep 16th 2007 3:08AM
That "news" is about two years old and has been overrun by the resignation of the whole industry. The 1l-car has already been shown at several fairs. But I don't see a chance that this will make it into market, because the price of the whole would have landed topping 20kUS$. Would you have bought one?
Zamafir @ Sep 16th 2007 2:12PM
old? He confirmed two years ago that they would bring a 1l car to market in 2010? Wow, if you could provide us that link from 2005 indicating the 1l would be coming to market in 2010 that would be much appriciated - how the whole of the automotive news industry missed that confirmation in 2005 is beyond me.
JAG @ Sep 15th 2007 12:37PM
Mmm, good and bad news. the good is that they want to bring the up to the US market, the bad is that they are going to be late to the party as always (SUV, minivan, truck-remember taht one!!, pocket rockets, luxury sedans, etc). Good luck.
Mehul Kamdar @ Sep 15th 2007 1:53PM
And about time! I would love to own a cheap, small car for driving to work and back from the Chicago suburbs. With the most expensive gas in the US, small would rule!
RicardoHead @ Sep 15th 2007 2:01PM
Bring it on - I will love it if they price it right (and give it another name). You will NEVER see me in a Smart though - those putrid things are flippin' ghey.
Dave @ Sep 15th 2007 2:04PM
Tall cars with short wheelbase and a flat rear tend to handle poorly and have poor aerodynamics.
They are easy to park and to enter/exit.
Fine for city cars, weak for higher speeds.
I'd prefer a lower car shaped like my Miata but with a more fuel efficient drivetrain.
tad @ Sep 15th 2007 2:17PM
You're right and I'm suspicious about RWD as well, but don't forget this one isn't is tall as the Smart, the wheelbase is much larger and the tires are larger. So this one will be much easier to drive than the Smart.
What helps is that there'll be a law which will force all car makers to deliver all their cars with ESP.
Aerodynamics is another topic. It's not that simple that a flat sharp rear is worse than a soft sloped one. And in addition it's a matter of the area as well.
Toyota_Luver @ Sep 15th 2007 2:27PM
Nice concept for Europe since they have astronomical gas prices.
Will never sell in the United States while gas is under $5/gal. Just as the BMW 1 series is too budget looking and probably won't break sales records, so goes this small VW. At least the 1-series has respectable performance. Then again, people buy the Toyota Pruis which is uglier than sin. I'm a Toyota fan and I hate that car!!!
zamafir @ Sep 15th 2007 3:47PM
considering the major market seeing massive growth in the us is the compact/subcompact with great mpg sector, i'm curious why you're indicating this will fail, as small cars with great mpg are already selling exceedingly well and showing fantastic growth. then again, that's the actual market, and not my personal opinion... so i guess everyone is entitled to their own, ignorant of actual market conditions - though I do love obscure predictions linked to round numbers!
Jorge @ Sep 15th 2007 8:28PM
what wrong with the u.s. small car does not mean cheap.
VW probably will make two version.
One version with many engine choice from gas frugal engine to performance engine. Many trim level from basic to luxury. This version will be sold to everywhere including Canada except u.s.
Another version will be a average engine a good balance of performance and gas mileage and sold only to American. Since the American want performance but still want to look like they care about gas price(but in reality they don't care about the gas mileage if it means to sacrifice performace). The car will be trim cheaply and budget looking since they don't want to confuse American buyer(because American think small car equal to cheap and uncomfortable since most American are obese. Also American like lots of horse power so they drive very fast and kill themselves very quickly.).
For people who want amazing gas mileage but sports car like performance then too bad since it does not exist with internal combustion engine.
Azrael4h @ Sep 15th 2007 3:28PM
If it's offered at under $10k, then it should sell fairly well for a small car. Maybe 20,000 units.
Remember, nearly everyone driving today in the US can remember paying .89 cents a gallon for gas at some point. I'm only 23, yet I remember paying that much in my first car. So the $3.00+/gal range is very high compared to what most of use have spent on gas.
I think they should just make it more like the old Beetle in looks, and market it as that. You can easily find thousands of those things in any city, decades after they stopped being sold in the US. A very low priced car, good mileage, and decent styling, and it will do just fine.
Whether I would buy one depends on the availability of a manual transmission-equipped model, without going to a non-A/C, non-radio/CD player stripper. A 3 cylinder diesel engine mated to that stick shift would seal it, if I could get it in at around $13-15k.