http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=120448
Volkswagen Resurrects Plan for 200+-MPG Small Car
Date posted: 04-16-2007
STORY TOOLS Print this Save this Digg this!
Email this Most popular del.icio.us
WOLFSBURG, Germany — The head of the Volkswagen Group's supervisory board, Ferdinand Piëch, used celebrations surrounding his 70th birthday over the weekend to point at the resurrection of plans for a new super-economical small Volkswagen.
In an interview with the Braunschweiger Zeitung newspaper, Piëch said the production of a car capable of traveling 100 kilometers on just one liter of fuel (the equivalent of 235 miles per U.S. gallon) is now achievable, citing advances in materials and general reductions in costs.
Piëch hinted that newly installed Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn will likely make the car a reality, although he declined to provide any time frame for its introduction or price. The paper quotes Piëch as saying: "I have spoken with a manufacturer. He believes he can deliver components within two years for €5,000 rather than €35,000 [U.S. $6,775 rather than $47,400]. It then comes into the sort of territory where a normal customer can afford it. That was at my time [as chairman] not possible."
Piëch's comments come five years after he and then incoming Volkswagen chairman Bernd Pischetsreider made a media event of their time inside a teardrop-shaped Volkswagen with an 8.5-horsepower, 299cc one-cylinder engine. They piloted the little concept car 135 miles from the company's Wolfsburg headquarters to its annual shareholder meeting in Hanover, averaging a claimed 222 miles per U.S. gallon.
Along with production of Volkswagen's Lupo 3L (a weight-optimized version of the German carmaker's former entry-level model, capable of 78 miles per U.S. gallon), development of the super-frugal research vehicle was halted by Pischetsreider in 2005.
In a controversial swipe at his successor, Piëch told the Braunschweiger Zeitung, "As I relinquished the chairmanship of Volkswagen I gave my successor the job of further developing the 1-Liter Car [Piëch's name for the research vehicle] and the Lupo 3L. Both were stopped. But we will resurrect them."
What this means to you: When Piëch proposed a 1,001-hp, 8.0-liter, 16-cylinder Bugatti-badged supercar capable of 252 miles per hour, few took him seriously. A 235-mpg car appears equally impossible. But no one's laughing this time around.
Creative Draft Art Media Forums
Interesting. Definatly sounds promising.
8.5-horsepower, 299cc one-cylinder engine.my tractor has more HP than that. how are you supposed to drive in traffic with that thing?
<img src="http://registry.gmenthusiast.com/images/jiggaman/personal_pic.jpg">
Obviously it's not made for cross country driving. It's more of a personal vehicle to get to and from work. Of course you won't be able to beat someone stoplight to stoplight, but you shouldn't have any problem driving around the city.
i would imagine. Driving around with 8 hp is hard. it is like driving a tractor. Imagine pulling up to a hi-tech john deere on the main street in a town.
<img src="http://registry.gmenthusiast.com/images/jiggaman/personal_pic.jpg">
motor swap! lolz
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
Not that I am against uber fuel squeezer vehicles, but come on my John Deere lawn tractor has more balls than that thing!
Thats Him Officer The WICKED One.
I doubt the US will see it.
And only one person.... ehh. Id prefer a motorcycle.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
It's not all that long ago that Civics had 55 BHP.
The point isn't the speed, it's the fact that you only have to fuel up once a month.
heck id take a car with only 50 hp if I got over 60 mpg....
no, no, id take 3 of them
50 is a huge difference from 8.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
8 hp in a super light ultra aero dynamic low rolling resistance vehicle is actually gunna move pretty good. maybe not 0-60 fast but depending on the gearing system could easily be doing 65+mph
Creative Draft Art Media Forums
Nathaniel O'Flaherty wrote:8 hp in a super light ultra aero dynamic low rolling resistance vehicle is actually gunna move pretty good. maybe not 0-60 fast but depending on the gearing system could easily be doing 65+mph
Its not going to be lighter than a motorcycle and will def have more rolling resistance and I am not sure if I wan't to hit 65+mph in that thing. Most people drive bad enough around motorcycles which appear to be more visible than that.
I still don't see it catching on in the US, however; I can see it being huge in europe.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
bikes go 200mph if you are trying to compare the two.
it will probably have about the same aerodynamics of a bike making up for its width in its shortness.
pocketbikes with crappy gearing go 60+ mph so this thing engineered by experts will have much better gearing and 8hp is more than pocket bikes have. it is more than possible for 8hp to move this thing around very nicely.
the thing is obviously meant for freeway speeds otherwise you wouldnt need to put so much time on aerodynamics if it was a town car. there isnt much aero going on at 25mph.
Creative Draft Art Media Forums
some bikes goes 200mph. Most wont.
Again, I doubt it will catch on here.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
I would far rather have something that gets 5-15mpg and acually WANT to drive the vehicle. What a joke this is.
**there is only one true love in my life... and my girlfriend has learned to live with it**
What happens when fuel for the car starts eating over 30% of your base pay? Sometimes fuel efficiency has its benefits, 8 bhp may not be a lot, but if the car weighs as much as a fart in a windstorm, why worry about power to weight? Ever driven a 8hp gokart? Tell me that's not fast at 80mph.
Sappy: a 200mph bike gets about the same fuel economy as a Civic, but you can't drive it in winter, rather, you REALLY wouldn't want to. The other thing: how many people do you know that drive an Indy car as their daily driver?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Thursday, April 19, 2007 5:34 PM
What does a indy car have to do w/ a bike?
I guess you automatically assume crotch rockets?
I am not saying that its not cool, or benificial. I am saying this country will not see it unless something drastic happens.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
Sappy96 wrote:What does a indy car have to do w/ a bike?
I guess you automatically assume crotch rockets?
I am not saying that its not cool, or benificial. I am saying this country will not see it unless something drastic happens.
yea thats pretty sad......
then again, if it only has 8hp, couldnt they use an electric motor that could put out the same hp?!
if someone would make an electric car, even if it only had 8hp and took like 15 seconds to reach 60mph, wed be in business. eliminating the need to fuel up would outweigh the disadvantage of its speed...
^ that has existed since for a LONG time. it is just down played and covered up and reports written to bash them.
the FIRST prototype they made before the project got canceled was 8hp 1L
I am pretty sure a production version would have more.
nobody thought the veyron numbers were doable or practical either.
Creative Draft Art Media Forums
Who didn't think the veyrons #s were doable? Its still not practicle lol.
There are plenty of 800+rwhp cars you just have to make sure the motor and drive train can handle it.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
Interesting, and after seeing the veryon I do not doubt this project will work and be a hit in Europe..but I'd rather have a bike, nothing against unbeatable mpg or new technology. It's a nostalgia for motorcycles and the smell of gasoline.
Even a little ninja 250 that gets 65-80 mpg and has 36 HP (around 6 second 0-60) would cost about 12$ a week to fill the tank going the same distance as my cavalier. I'm not that strapped for cash that I can't afford that much for gas, but who knows what gas prices will eventually do.
I'm all for smaller cars but I don't know if the American market is ready for it yet. Take away their pickup trucks that most only use maybe once a month, and their SUV's that carry the 6 non-existant children and it may take a hold. Large gas guzzlers are a status symbol and frankly, its idiotic.
Sappy96 wrote:What does a indy car have to do w/ a bike?
200 MPH.. of the bikes that can go 200 mph, (I think it's the Hyabusa, and one other... before they were electronically limited) they're getting about 36 mpg, and indy car gets about that much as well... but they just cost a LOT more, and I wouldn't trust most people to pilot either of them.
Quote:
I guess you automatically assume crotch rockets?
I am not saying that its not cool, or benificial. I am saying this country will not see it unless something drastic happens.
I think people aren't going to do a damned thing until it's in their financial best interest.
Its 200 mpg not 200 mph.
Where the hell did 200 mph come from.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
