VW reinvents Bug with 115mpg city car

perfect city slicker ... but

can it take speed bumps at 20 miles per hour?

By CarsDefineUs on 3 December, 2009, 9:06am

Now surely this is a car of the future truly going in the much-needed joint directions of frugality with practicability. Not sure about the looks but I could live with them if they provide such slippery efficiency.

Camera systems are so cheap now that it not before time that they edged out the drag, weight, blind spot and damage prone inefficiency of door mounted mirrors and their costly adjustment and heating systems. A comprehensive camera ‘mirror’ system could provide the added advantage of positioning the screen directly in the front ahead view of the driver providing additional safety by negating the necessity to glances sideway into the door mirrors. Integrated onboard camera systems could be further designed to provide recordings of incidents for safety/insurance purposes and surveillance/recordings for additional vehicle internal and external security. Believe me vehicle and integrated camera technologies will be with us all very shortly.

I would certainly buy a VW Lite tomorrow to replace my current 50mpg supermini so long as it was current VW quality, reasonably priced and any reliability issues of its new systems were well sorted.

By davidlivermore on 3 December, 2009, 9:21am

Hey...does this concept actually have Tennessee plates on it?

By LYNDONGOLDEN on 3 December, 2009, 12:26pm

Bob Hodgin

Now here this VW. Bring it to the US along with the new Polo. It will show Toyota what a fuel efficient car should be.

By grafik1 on 3 December, 2009, 12:50pm

What price & will it actually materialise in the UK

Well,
another concept from VW wetting our appetites. Much like the 3L lupo that never came here or several recent concepts. Do they not realise that some people don't want a £20k car when they are just going to and fro work. This needs to come to the UK but at the right price to appeal to the masses and be affordable. Should be sub £10k, ideally about £8k max. does not need all the gadgets. Just aircon, abs & airbags. Do not mind manual windows, etc.
If they did it as 2 variants or with swappable modules, eg internet/radioelec windows, etc, then people could personnalise them to there hearts content.
So thank you for the concept, you have done the talk so put your money where your mouth is and bring it to us.

By andrewmac2 on 3 December, 2009, 1:05pm

grafik1

grafik1..are you comparing a family sized prius with this.. ?
.
When VW mass produces and sells them in numbers and the cars are reliable thenlbe on the next level....

Also in the VW you can see the backend has to be hunched up like a Prius / Insight/Civic hybrid. nothing new from VW excpept it's done it with a diesel rather than pertrol.

By hugo_b on 3 December, 2009, 4:05pm

the Prius will be on the next level

By hugo_b on 3 December, 2009, 4:07pm

Way to go VW. That will give the oil companies a run for their money after decades of buying out anybody that came along with a carburetor that gave improved miles per gallon. Problem is though that in order to maintain their bottom line, the more cars around with more mpg the more likely gasoline/petrol will cost more at the pumps.

By jgvpc on 3 December, 2009, 7:06pm

Like its German counterparts, VW did not hurry into the EV the way Renault-Nissan did and (probably) rightfully so! Carlos Ghohn decided to bet on the EV without real and clear commitments on infrastructures and logistics. It will definitely be interesting to see the battle between those two OEMs with two different strategies but it seems VW has already won before the fight even starts! When 'ready', the 100% electric solution will apply to city cars and possibly small LCVs as it is the only way to stop pollution progress in huge urban areas such as London, Tokyo or Beijing.

By philpod on 3 December, 2009, 7:42pm

T O Y O T A

Toyota leads the way, VW can only follow... 10 years late!

By miguel117 on 4 December, 2009, 9:55pm

Personally I will take the BMW Efficient Dynamics 320d coming out next year, nearly 70mpg, 163bhp, 140mph, £35 tax. Promises so much more space, comfort, safety and performance if needed.

By Supervet on 6 December, 2009, 7:46pm

Up Lite! Coasting

I thought coasting in neutral was against the law in the UK?
Do VW have this covered in some clever way?
Tony

By tonyf on 7 December, 2009, 1:00pm

Up Lite! Coasting

I thought coasting in neutral was against the law in the UK?
Do VW have this covered in some clever way?
Tony

By tonyf on 7 December, 2009, 1:02pm