2012 Volkswagen up!

Volkswagen is launching a new small car: the up!. A city specialist for many of the world’s countries. A car with charisma and great potential. In Germany – the debut market – advance orders are already being taken for the new up! with prices starting at €9,850 EUR ($13,588 USD). The new Volkswagen will officially launch in successive steps beginning in late December. Offered below are some key highlights from this new model with further information available here.

Petrol Engines – On a minimal footprint (3.54 metres long), the up! offers maximum space for 4 people and highly efficient powertrain technologies. Making its debut in the up! is a new generation of three-cylinder engines. The petrol engines have power outputs of 44 kW / 60 PS and 55 kW / 75 PS, fulfil the Euro 5 emissions standard and drive the front wheels. Combined fuel consumption values for the BlueMotion Technology version (with such features as a Stop/Start system, battery regeneration and tyres optimised for low rolling resistance): 4.2 l/100 km (60 PS) and 4.3 l/100 km (75 PS). Both 1.0-litre engines satisfy the 100 g/km CO2 emissions limit.

Natural Gas – A natural gas engine with 50 kW / 68 PS will follow with the same basic technology as the petrol engines. This up! EcoFuel BlueMotion Technology will attain a groundbreaking low CO2 value of 79 g/km. At the IAA in Frankfurt, Volkswagen presented a nearly production-ready concept of this extremely clean natural gas version – the eco-up!. There are also firm plans for an up! with an electric drive in 2013, and a study of the up! Blue-e-Motion was shown at the IAA in September as well. Just as new as the engines are the car’s two new 5-speed gearboxes (one manual and one automatic version); they are among the lightest of their types in the world.

City Emergency Braking – The entirely new up! is also the first car in its class in the world to have a City Emergency Braking function, which automatically brakes the car over a speed range from 5 to 30 km/h, when traffic gets tight.

Maps + More – Another entirely new feature appearing for the first time in a Volkswagen is the maps+more system – a portable touchscreen module. It contains a navigation system, hands-free telephone unit, display of factual information related to the vehicle and a media player. In addition, it will now be possible to use apps to tailor maps+more to a driver’s highly individualized personal requirements profile. maps+more is snapped into place above the centre console where it interfaces with the electronics network of the up!. In the economically priced up!, a system was developed for organizing the areas of navigation, telephone, information and entertainment that is just as economical. The portable device was also designed so that it could be brought up to the latest software levels via a simple update. In cooperation with Navigon, one of the world’s leading suppliers of portable navigation systems, the special solution maps+more was created; it is tailored to the up! and is affordable for all buyers.

Source: Wallpaper*