Volkswagen Up!

Volkswagen, Europe's largest car maker, after the magnificent launch of its lavishing cars in India is about to launch its cute small car, the VW Up! At a price of around Rs 3 lakh in 2010-2011. The Volkswagen Up! Was shown off for the first time at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Then, the car was planned as a rear-engine, rear wheel drive car, much in the footsteps of the VW Beetle.

It still more or less maintains the looks of the Up! Concept, but is much wider and longer, the current Volkswagen Up! – the one which is headed for India – will be a normal front wheel drive, front-engine car. According to the Auto Car story, Volkswagen expects to sell 1 lakh units of the Up! In India, positioning it against the A-Star and the Hyundai i10. On coolness factor alone, priced similarly, the VW Up! Has a very good chance to give those two cars a run for their money.

The engine of the VW Up! Would definitely come from the Volkswagen parts bin which also comprises Skoda engines. Do not expect something that is much more powerful than the current crop of B-segment cars though – that would drive prices up, and Volkswagen definitely does not want the Up! To end up as another Skoda Fabia.. Volkswagen will likely utilize its plants at Aurangabad, and the upcoming Pune plant, to produce the Up! in India at affordable prices. The car would cost only 900 euros to build in India, while VW plans to sell it in Europe at 9000 Euros. Garmin is working with VW to add a new Garmin GPS to your car along with a custom mount that will keep the unit well positioned to the outboard side of the driver, and is based on the Nuvi 7X5 series.

Features:

The Up interior is made to seat 4 adults in comfort and featured a unique flat folding seat system. The seats are air inflatable so the seats fit every body shape. Up also has a unique central displays, two monitors, one 8 inch monitor shows the vehicle speed, fuel level and range, as well as your CO2 emissions.

The second 7 inch monitor controls climate control, radio volume, music selection, telephone, navigation, photos and movies etc. Up measures 3.45 meters (11.3 ft) and has a width of 1.63 meters. The engine would likely be a 1.1 liter 3 cylinder units or a 1.2 liter unit, the car is a typical hatchback with 4 doors and a hatch. The centerpiece of the Up! Light power train is the newly designed 0.8 TDI two-cylinder turbo-diesel engine with a power of 38 kW / 51 PS. Furthermore, the electric motor (10 kW) – designed as a pulse start module (starter, alternator and E-drive) – also reduces the load of the TDI, provides added propulsion (boosting) and works to recover kinetic energy (regenerative braking). During boost phases – e.g. in a quick passing maneuver – the TDI and E-motor combine for a total power of 48 kW / 65 PS. The system offers a safe and perfectly matched solution, for upgrading a Volkswagen with a GPS navigation unit. It looks definitely a class above its competition.