Volkswagen says that its new up! city car will not be a stand-alone model, but rather is the first in a new series of small vehicles. To show the directions that the future up! variants could take, the automaker revealed a sextet of up! concepts at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The uniquely named buggy up! and up! azzurra sailing team concepts were specifically designed for beach travel. The buggy up! was inspired by Beetle-based dune buggy’s of the the 1960s and is a lowered, roofless and slightly elongated take on the up! theme. Penned by by Italian designers Giorgetto Giugiaro and Walter de Silva, the up! azzurra sailing team is a open air, doorless runabout intended for the world’s marinas, according the Volkswagen. Its interior seeks to emulate the cabin of a luxury yacht and is reportedly completely waterproof.
Conceived for urban driving, the cross up! also previews the look of an upcoming four-door up! iteration. It has a slightly more rugged bumper design and 0.6 inches of additional ground clearance for a more aggressive overall design. Volkswagen states that the “cross” element of the concept’s moniker stands for customized and rugged designs with active lifestyle qualities.
The GT up! envisions the styling of a performance oriented up! It is differentiated from normal up! by a large, central cooling air intake with a honeycomb-look grille similar to the one used on the Golf GTI.
For the environmentally conscious, there are the eco up! and e-up! concepts (not pictured). The eco up! uses a natural gas-powered 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine with BlueMotion technology that emits just 79 g/km of CO2 and nets a combined 73 mpg in European testing. Powered by an electric motor with 155 lb-ft of torque, the e-up! is said to have a top speed of 84 mph and a range of up to 80 miles.
The natural gas and EV up!s are relatively sure bets for production, but don’t count on the more fanciful up! concepts ever finding their way into the hands of customers.
Live photos by Mark Elias
