Volkswagen's up! mini - Special Feature

Finally here it is, the car which is a key component of Volkswagen bid to rise to the top of the heap in the automotive world! While this statement might be misconstrued as being OTT, it has been mentioned keeping in mind the VW Group’s avowed intent to lead the automobile world in outright sales and production volumes, profits, market capitalization, etc. Volkswagen’s Mach 18 programme focuses absolutely on this fact and it has chalked out an ambitious strategy where not just its core operating markets will get a new product thrust but increasingly the Group will move into newer markets with even more innovative products which will cater to absolute mass market segments.

Say hello to the Volkswagen up!, yes that’s how the car will be called with the exclamation mark an integral part of its makeup, having the power to give even more mobility to masses which never could have dreamed of such a complete mobility solution. Going back to basics but with modern thought in technology, manufacturing practices, design and packaging, Volkswagen in 2011 intends to come up with a car very much in character to how it got going in the car business in the first place, with its much loved Beetle in the late 1930s and the up! is its modern interpretation for the second decade of the 21st century.

This modern day interpretation began life in a rear-engine, rear wheel drive package but this was reversed totally into what has evolved into Volkswagen’s MQB architecture which encompasses a transverse-front engine, front wheel drive layout. According to the VW engineers and designers, the MQB architecture was more conducive for space management and overall packaging while also contributing to major savings in cost, material, and weight. The new up! will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this month in production form and the first examples would all be Euro-centric in their turnout and appeal with versions for Brazil, India and China coming on song within the next year.

The design of the Volkswagen up! is a very interesting yet simple one where the onus is on delivering a large occupant space in a very compact package with all the benefits of safety engineering built into it. With the emphasis on sustainability and also strong eco-consciousness making their presence felt in urban motoring, the up! is Volkswagen’s take on a contemporary city car and the proportions plus its packaging highlight this in no uncertain terms. For a car with an overall length of 3540mm, it has minimal overhangs as is visually apparent and thanks to the 2420mm wheelbase, gives the up! a very stable footprint. Not just that but the up! is one of the smallest four-seat Volkswagen ever in history, its 1640mm width and 1480mm height helping to fit in four adults in comfort and ease utilizing the tall boy approach employed to stunning effect by the likes of Honda, Suzuki and Hyundai to name but three.

2011 Frankfurt Motor Show: Hot launches & brilliant concepts, click here

A lot of smart thinking went into optimizing space utilization and the up! shows this to stunning effect with a full complement of four who also make do with 251 litres of useable luggage space in the boot! Fold the rear seat back and cargo space jumps to 951 litres making this an even more impressive, not to mention versatile, package. Talking about the space utilization of the up!, Klaus Bischoff, Volkswagen’s design head said: “If the goal is to maximize space, the ideal form for a small car would be a rectangular box. In the up! we were able to sculpt such a box with a clean and powerful design that does not lose sight of space utilization.”

Externally, the up! is as Volkswagen as it gets with clean lines yet with simple flourishes that characterize the hood and the sides. In fact the design DNA of modern day VWs starting with the Polo and going all the way up the range via the Golf, Jetta and Passat are also to be found on the up!, especially the headlight treatment as well as the horizontal accents on the front end. In fact, as I have mentioned above, this should rank as one of the best examples of a tall boy city car from any car maker and this should stand it in good stead across the world.

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Just like the Beetle in its heyday and as Fiat has done with its brilliant 500 Cinquecento, the dashboard of the up! is all metallic and finished in one of the five body colours or a special décor paint to go with the interior trim. In fact this paint theme on metal extends also to the doors making this a throwback to earlier times but stands out as a detail of fine execution. What is impressive is the clean and simple layout replete with a squared off steering wheel, a central console with air con controls and switches for the audio equipment, a simple but large instrument binnacle among others. What however is innovative yet so very convenient is what Volkswagen terms its PID or Portable Infotainment Device. 

This device snaps into a dock on the top of the dashboard and via its touchscreen can deliver navigation (maps + more being the term used for this in the VW lexicon), information, telephony, entertainment in a jiffy to the driver. Developed in co-operation with Navigon, this PID can also deliver important vehicle information including visual display of the ParkPilot, a Volkswagen driver aid which controls the car’s distance to the next vehicle. Taking a cue from the success of the iPhone and iPad, the VW boffins are not stopping at just a few apps but exploring a whole new automotive universe to cram into the PID.

If the overall design and turnout is clean and simple yet smart and efficient, the same holds true for the driveline. Volkswagen intends to make this car all across the world and is a key model to attain its Mach 18 targets. When launched in Europe from later this year it will embrace the current trend of engine downsizing and turbocharging, via  couple of one-litre three-cylinder engines, one being a brand new turbocharged unit developing 60PS while a higher boost version of the same would be good for 75PS at the driver’s disposal. The basic transmission system to begin with will have a five-speed manual gearbox but it is expected that a clutchless automated gearbox would make its way on the options list soon.

2011 Frankfurt Motor Show: Hot launches & brilliant concepts, click here

Given Volkswagen’s strong thrust on evolving new emissions technology and low fuel consumption, these new three-pot engines would also get BlueMotion tech bits as standard including a Stop/Start system. In this guise the company claims a fuel efficiency of 23.90kmpl for the 60PS version and 23.25kmpl for the 75PS version while both engines dip below the 100g/km CO2 limit. Natural gas versions plus also an all electric up! are already in the testing stage and would make it to the market by 2013.

The big news for Indian motorists is that Volskwagen would be making a five-door version of the up! for our market at its massive state-of-the-art facility at Chakan. Right now for Europe there are only three-door versions planned but for India a five door version is the way to go and the car is presently being engineered to this bodystyle while retaining most attributes of the European model. None of the external design or the internal packaging would change for India though trim and other materials would be more in sync with Indian tastes and preferences. What would change however would be the engines, initially using derivatives of the four-cylinder units seen in the Indian-market Polo, either in 1.2-litre displacement or even one with a smaller 1.0-litre swept volume. I do think that unlike the Polo which still makes do with largely old yet fairly competent drivetrains, the up! will feature at least one three-litre unit within a year of introduction in India.

Sticking to India, Volkswagen has plans for the up! to be branded not just in VW logos but there will also be a Skoda-badged version which would offer even more value and a distinctive turnout to boot. The Skoda versions will feature an all new face and also certain differently stamped side panels to give it a different individuality and all models will make use of common manufacturing facilities at Chakan near Pune. What is also in the realm of possibility is given that the basic up! measures 3540mm front to rear, tagging on a smallish boot would be just the ticket to coming up with a very stylish tax-busting notchback or compact sedan as well.

When Volkswagen showed three versions of the original up! series it had also penciled in a monobox van version which however will now not take shape. Instead, the up!’s MBQ architecture will also underpin the Bulli, the stylish neo-retro design which VW showed last year. At just a shade under 4.0-metres could this also be India-bound and give the likes of the Suzuki Eeco and Versa plus the Tata Venture a run for their money? While there seems to be much ambiguity on the VW-Suzuki alliance and no clear thought emerging on moving this forward, I do not see a Suzuki-badged version of the up! as yet though that would have been ideal with a Suzuki three-pot motor or the K-series engine under the hood.

At Frankfurt, Volkswagen will be showing the first models in the up! range for Europe which will comprise  the entry level model named the take up! while the next one moving forward is the move up! followed by the top of the line high up! model.  These have been devised to cater to different price points and equipment levels and as if to emphasise the importance of this model in its worldwide model portfolio, there will also be two special highlights based on the top end high up model known as the black up! and the white up!

Pricing will be critical for the up!, whether it be for Europe or for the BRIC region. As we have already seen and experienced the aggressive manner in which Volkswagen has managed to create and establish its brand in this country, I think pricing the up! way low down (pun is purely coincidental!) would be the way to go and while nothing is confirmed on this count given that the car is still almosta  year away from production reality in India, a notional price point in the region of Rs 3.00 to 3.4 lakhs is the target given to Volkswagen India. How effectively it can do this will determine the pace with which the up! could accelerate VW on the growth trajectory towards not just a slice of the large small car pie in India but also play a decisive role in its maker achieving global numero uno status via its ambitious Mach 18 programme. Moving the masses the Volkswagen way is set for a whole new take and the only way looks to be up!.

2011 Frankfurt Motor Show: Hot launches & brilliant concepts, click here