Volkswagen will take to the streets of Europe late this year with a new small city car, the up!
No, we’re not quite that excited… its full name is indeed up! with the exclamation point. Featuring a trio of new 1.0-liter three-cylinder gas BlueMotion engines, the up! will emit as little as 79 g/km when run on natural gas.
The 1.0-liter motors will be available in 44 horsepower and 74 horsepower variants, which will be capable of up to 56 and 55 mpg combined (presumably on the European scale), respectively. The natural gas model will put out 67 horsepower but will feature a combined 73 mpg.
VW says that an electric up! will debut in 2013.
The car will be aimed primarily at city users, however, so its compact dimensions and safety features like City Emergency Braking will be bigger selling points than combined fuel economy.
Stretching just 138 inches from head to toe, the up! is undoubtedly tiny. But VW says that safety will be a priority; the optional City Emergency Braking system will help it come to a stop in the event of an impending low-speed accident.
Inside, up! will be larger than its dimensions might suggest. It offers an 8.9 cubic foot trunk that can be expanded to 33.6 cubic feat when the rear seat is folded – figures more often seen in compact hatchbacks than minicars.
Creating a lifestyle
VW says that the up! concept is more than just an eco-friendly city car. The automaker will offer special-fit boxes meant for shopping, long trims or for when children are in the car to help owners make the most of the small space available. A new infotainment system with user-selectable apps will be on offer as well.
The Portable Infotainment Device was developed in conjunction with Navigon and it will offer navigation and ParkPilot parking assistance, among other features. The device will mount into a specially-made holder directly on the up!’s dashboard.
To make up! almost universally available, VW says that European buyers will be able to take part in a new financing model called AutoCredit2. VW hasn’t specified just what AutoCredit2 will entail, but the company readily admits that it is “democratizing” the automobile experience just as it did in the 1950s with its original Beetles.
But don’t look for the up! to make headway in the U.S. just yet. While up!s will go on sale in Europe in December in three configurations – take up!, move up! and high up! (itself available in up! black and up! white special trims), the automaker hasn’t yet commented on global markets.
Live photos by Mark Elias.
