Showing off its latest bit of mileage-maxing wizardry, Volkswagen rolled out its new Twin-Up! Concept at the Tokyo Auto Show. Combining the basic 4-passenger practicality of its standard Up! city car with a number of powertrain elements from the considerably more exotic 2-passenger Volkswagen XL1 – aka the world’s most fuel-efficient production vehicle – this one-off reportedly “hints at” a possible volume-build successor. While it can’t match the limited-run XL1’s 261-mpg econo stat on the European Combined driving cycle, this far more conventional and decidedly more affordable alternative still boasts a pretty stellar 214 mpg figure.
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Like VW’s XL1, the Twin Up! Concept is a plug-in hybrid that gets its motivation from a 2-cylinder 830cc TDI clean turbodiesel engine that makes 74 horsepower teamed with an electric motor. However, in the case of the Twin Up! — which at 2,657 pounds is 51 percent heavier than the largely composite XL1 – it makes 35 horses and is fed by an 8.6kWh lithium-ion battery pack instead of the 27-horse motor and 5.5kWh battery in the XL1. The Twin Up! also has a larger 8.7 gallon fuel tank but power heads to the front wheels via the same 7-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission used in the XL1. Other vital stats include the ability to accelerate from 0-62 mpg in a fairly leisurely 15.7 seconds, an electric-only range of 31 miles and a top speed of 78 mph in EV mode or 87 mph with both power modules in operation.
The Twin Up! features an exclusive Sparkling White paint made with blue glass flakes that allows for subtle changes in the look of the finish under different lighting conditions. Inside, a “Ceramic” cloth-leather combo upholstery is set off with two different “corporate” blue hues while the bespoke digital instrumentation and user-configurable controls also carry an eco-themed blue-and-white motif.
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