Frankfurt: Volkswagen preview night

It's a big entrance for the VW Group's smallest, but arguably most important, new model - the up!

Auto Express Car Reviews

Text: Jack Rix / Photos: Carscoop

September 2011

It's been a long time coming, but the up! has arrived. We first saw the up! concept at the 2007 Frankfurt show, but now, four years later, the production version is ready to roll. And we were there at the VW preview evening to see it take its first steps.

Read our first drive of the up! here.

The concept's rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout has been ditched in favour of a front-engine, front-wheel-drive set-up, but it sticks closely to the spacious and highly useable package of the original. In the words of Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, VW's R&D boss: "The up! is a pure VW in every sense. It offers affordable innovation for all."

Every model of the up! that will go on sale from launch was driven on to the stage, including the 59bhp variant with its brand new 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine, a 74bhp version using the same unit and a CNG-powered variant which boasts CO2 emissions of only 78g/km.

You can read all the details on the up! here.

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