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Volkswagen Resurrects Plan for 200+-MPG Small Car
Edmunds ^ | April 16, 2007

Posted on 04/23/2007 12:18:49 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Germany
KEYWORDS: economycar; energy; gasmileage; volkswagen
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Go to it, Ferdinand!!
1 posted on 04/23/2007 12:18:53 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

2 posted on 04/23/2007 12:44:07 AM PDT by Bobalu (I guess I done see'd that varmint for the last time....)
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To: Bobalu

VW Lupo 3L Turbodiesel gets 78mpg

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/article_319.shtml


3 posted on 04/23/2007 12:57:29 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Iran delenda est)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"resurrection of plans for a new super-economical small Volkswagen."

Is slave labor involved? I thought this gas crunch is reminiscent of the '70's in the US, not the 30's in Germany...

4 posted on 04/23/2007 1:16:45 AM PDT by endthematrix (a globalized and integrated world - which is coming, one way or the other. - Hillary)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Nevermind.


5 posted on 04/23/2007 1:18:52 AM PDT by endthematrix (a globalized and integrated world - which is coming, one way or the other. - Hillary)
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To: Bobalu

I have plans for a 300+ mpg small car in my den. Let’s see who’s gets to market first.


6 posted on 04/23/2007 1:36:57 AM PDT by dukakis kerry the dream team
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

7 posted on 04/23/2007 1:41:22 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The Drive-By Media is attempting to Cronkite the Iraq war.)
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To: Bobalu
Looks like one of the cars from the animated movie "Cars." It even looks like it has eyes and a mouth.
8 posted on 04/23/2007 1:43:14 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Ben Franklin, we tried but we couldn't keep it.)
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To: Bobalu

That’s not a car - that’s a golf cart.


9 posted on 04/23/2007 3:23:03 AM PDT by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“It’s all fun and games until you run headlong into a large insect...”


10 posted on 04/23/2007 3:55:38 AM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Braunschweiger Zeitung?.........Sausage News?..........


11 posted on 04/23/2007 5:22:13 AM PDT by Red Badger (If it's consensus, it's not science. If it's science, there's no need for consensus......)
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To: AmericaUnited
“It’s all fun and games until you run headlong into a large insect...”

I was riding a motorcycle once and got whacked by a june bug. Dang near knocked my arse out......

12 posted on 04/23/2007 5:51:12 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Just the facts, ma'am)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

VW should have been pushing hard for years to bring the Lupo 3L over here to sell and take the gas miser crown from Honda.

VW - a day late and a dollar short. Always.


13 posted on 04/23/2007 6:37:29 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Encourage illegal immigration! Maybe you too can be hit and killed by a drunk driver!)
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To: VeniVidiVici

Hell, they had a pickup back 20 years ago or more that got so many MPG there were cases of people forgetting they needed fuel.


14 posted on 04/23/2007 6:46:45 AM PDT by weezel
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

..... and in related news they are also working on one that runs on farts......


15 posted on 04/23/2007 6:53:10 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
with an 8.5-horsepower, 299cc one-cylinder engine.

No thanks.....

16 posted on 04/23/2007 7:00:30 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (Liberals are willing to sacrifice any amount of someone else's money to increase their own power...)
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To: Red Badger

uh...Braunschweig is a city in Germany. But you knew that, right? ;)

Regards,


17 posted on 04/23/2007 7:09:38 AM PDT by Thunder 6
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To: Red Badger
Braunschweiger Zeitung?.........Sausage News?..........

heh heh, perhaps??

18 posted on 04/23/2007 7:10:14 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo ("When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk!")
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To: Jeff Chandler

That is a fantastic movie. Anyone that is a Peter Sellers fan would like it.
The first scene alone is worth the price of admission.


19 posted on 04/23/2007 7:13:59 AM PDT by Holicheese (I love shrimp and grits.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; All
This is the VW 1L referenced in the article:


20 posted on 04/23/2007 7:23:33 AM PDT by B Knotts (Anybody but Giuliani!)
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