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]

According to some educated guessing at WorldCarFans, Volkswagen's Up! concept that is coming our way in the next few years will be renamed the Lupo, reviving a name that went out of production in 2005. WCF says they have official confirmation from sources that their guess is true, and that "Up!" will indeed form the middle of the Lupo name (see also: IROC and Scirocco). There's still time before we find out for sure, as the production Up!/Lupo isn't expected to be unveiled until the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011.



[Source: WorldCarFans]

There are a mind-boggling amount of video hosting services around. One of them, webcastr, let us know about a new video they're hosting that is Car and Driver's look at the VW Up! concept during the Frankfurt Motor Show. Unlike YouTube and other video sites, it's not that obvious to me how to embed the video to this post, so the picture above will just take you to the Webcastr page where the video is viewable. Since I can't get the new video to embed, you can watch another one about the Up! here.

So, what's the content here? Nothing that we haven't seen before, really. It's a minute with the Up!, and not a bad introduction. Webcastr captions the video "This people's car is targeted more at emerging markets." I'm not sure where they get that idea. Csaba Csere, Car and Driver's editor-in-chief, says at the end of the video that a production Up! would probably be headed to the U.S.

Related:

• LA 2007: Schwarzenegger checks out the VW up! space blue
• LA 2007: Volkswagen Space up! Blue

[Source: Webcastr]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly likes to look green when new cars are displayed. I remember the excitement when he arrived at the unveiling of the Tesla Roadster back in the summer of 2006. Sometimes, of course, the Governator's green sheen is less glorious, like with the GM flex-fuel vehicles controversy. But, at the LA Auto Show this week, Governor Schwarzenegger was happy to visit the Volkswagen booth to check out the new space up! blue concept car.

Also at the VW booth, Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volkswagen of America, Inc., discussed more about what VW plans to do with clean diesels in the U.S. in the near future. As AutoblogGreen readers probably know, VW will bring clean diesel TDI engines to all 50 states, starting with the Jetta Sedan and Jetta SportWagen. The release date for the Jetta TDI was recently pushed back to summer 2008.



[Source: Volkswagen]

Click the space up! blue for a high-res gallery

Revision 3 of the Volkswagen up! concept family makes it debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show today. Taking the larger four-door version that bowed in Tokyo last month as starting point, the space up! blue adds the first implementation of a high temperature fuel cell to the mix. Propulsion energy for the electric motor comes from an array of lithium ion batteries that can yield a range of up to 65 miles on a full charge. In the same manner as the Ford Airstream concept, the batteries can be recharged either via a plug or the fuel cell stack. Volkswagen's high temperature fuel cell stack is claimed to be less expensive to produce than other designs while offering greater efficiency. In the case of this concept, the combined range of the fuel cell and battery system is 220 miles and more energy can be added via the roof top solar panel.

[Source: Volkswagen]

The Volkswagen up! concept car (whether in the original or the space or the possible fuel cell variant) is popular not only with AutoblogGreen readers who wouldn't mind buying one (or two) from VW but also with people in the industry. Last night, the up! won the Concept Car of the Year honor at the Autocar Awards. According to the Newspress release, Autocar editor Charles Hallett said the up! was "a brilliant concept car – but, importantly, a concept car that will become a reality. We like to think of it as a 21st Century Beetle – a stylish car that will provide affordable motoring for all, both here and in the developing world." Whatever the third variant is, we'll be seeing it later this week from the LA Auto Show.

[Source: Newspress]

At the last two big auto shows in Frankfurt and Tokyo, Volkswagen showed off two- and four-door concept versions of a new mini-car they are working on. Both of these were powered by rear mounted internal combustion engines. We knew a third variant was coming to the Los Angeles Auto Show this week and the expectation was that it would have a plug-in drive-train. Now it appears that what we'll see is the four door space up! from Tokyo with a fuel cell power-train. VW isn't talking yet but stay tuned Wednesday morning when we'll have news directly from the LA show floor after the announcement.

[Source: CarScoop]

Click on the space up! for a high res gallery

Last month at the Frankfurt Motor Show Volkswagen unveiled the first member of their "New Small Family" in the form of their modern day Beetle successor the up! As the NSF name implies this was just the beginning. In Tokyo, this week, they have something for those who like the original but need a little more space for the kids or cargo. The Space up! adds nine inches in length and one and a half inches in height along with two more doors. Like the first up! the engine lays between the rear wheels and sends it's motive force there. Inside the new micro-van is a full four-seater with integrated child safety seats in the back. Volkswagen is already doing production engineering on these new models with an introduction targeted at the end of the decade. More details are after the jump.

[Source: Volkswagen]

We found out earlier today that the Volkswagen Up! will be more expensive than originally reported. We have known since the Up! was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show that it would not only come in plug-in (at least in concept form) and hybrid versions, but also might one day come in a full range of body styles: compact SUV, five-door minivan and convertible. Christian Schlute, who prepares a lot of photorealistic renderings of upcoming vehicles, has created three renderings of these three body types, and you can see them over at eGMCarTech. Official VW images are available in the gallery below.

[Source: eGMCarTech, thanks to Omar]

Click the up! for a high-res gallery

Volkswagen's new super-mini which was previewed as the up! concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month may end up costing quite a bit more to buy than originally thought. While VW had been targeting an 8,000 Euro price point it now looks like the opening bid will be 8,950 Euro with the four-door version coming in 500 Euro higher. Keeping manufacturing costs to an absolute minimum has been the top priority for VW engineers and that entails using standard off-the-shelf components as much as possible rather than items specifically developed for the car.

VW is looking at their Czech division Skoda as a production source. One other cost saving measure that is being considered is a nine year product life-cycle rather than the usual seven years that VW's stay in production. The volume targets for this car are substantially higher than the smaller Smart ForTwo. VW is planning on 100,000 units annually under their own brand in Europe with another 200,000 under the Seat and Skoda brands. Emerging market sales are expected to bring the total to over 460,000 per year. With those kinds of volumes, it critical that the cost be kept low to make this low-priced machine profitable.

[Source: Just-Auto - Sub. req'd]

Click the up! for a high-res gallery

The Volkswagen up! which was shown off as concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week will almost certainly go into production in a couple of years. Selling the up! in European and Asian markets like China and India would probably be a given. The big question is whether we will see a production car based on the up! in the US market. Adrian Hallmark of Volkswagen of America told Automotive News that the US arm has told the home office that they are interested in a production version of the up!

They want a car to slot in below the Jetta and Rabbit that would be true to the heritage of Volkswagen. If such a car does come to the US it almost certainly won't be built in Germany due to low US dollar. Volkswagen will surely be watching the success of the Smart ForTwo after it launches early next year. If the Smart sells well, VW will probably move ahead with a US version of the up!

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]