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VW XL1 + E-mail Debunking - China's New "Little Car"

I got an e-mail the other day about a new car supposedly being made in China. The e-mail was partly true, and partly not true. But the truth is so cool that I can't resist blogging about it.

The e-mail claimed that a new car had been developed in China, with a bit of input from Volkswagen, and that the car got phenomenal gas mileage at an unbelievably low price. Well, the price point is unbelievable, and the car was developed by Volkswagen in Germany, not be a Chinese company with input from Volkswagen, but the gas mileage claim is real.

Here are some pictures from the e-mail. These are for the concept prototype, not a production version. The concept was known as the VW 1-Litre Concept Car. The 1-litre designation is because the goal of the car design was to be able to go 100 km on 1 liter of fuel. The car managed to meet that goal, needing just 0.99 liters for 100 km, or to put that in terms familiar to us U.S. readers, it achieved 238 mpg.

VW 1-Litre Concept Car

VW 1-Litre Concept Car

VW 1-Litre Concept Car

Image Credit: Unknown

Volkswagen had a second prototype similar to the original one but with several improvements, and then moved on to a production version. The production version is named the XL1. Here are a couple pictures of it.

VW XL-1

Image Credit: Wikipedia

VW XL-1

Image Credit: Car and Driver

According to Volkswagen, this production version only needs 0.9 liters to travel 100 km, or in other words, it gets 261 mpg. That's pretty amazing. And it sounds like VW is planning on putting the car into production. The catch? It's not cheap. According to a Car and Driver article, the anticipated price is around $50,000.

For those interested in reading more about the car, here are a few good articles on it. And for those interested in the original e-mail that prompted this entry, I'm including that below the fold.

More Info:


Here's the original e-mail that prompted me to look into this.

CHINA'S NEW "LITTLE CAR"

This is not a joke and they do sell for $600.00.
They wont be able to make them fast enough--good just to run around town.

Here's a car that will get you back and forth to work on the cheap...
$600 for the car. 258 miles per gallon...

Only a one seater, however - Talk about cheap transportation....
Volkswagen's $600 car gets 258 mpg--


It looks like Ford, Chrysler and GM missed the boat again!

China launches $600 car that will get 258mpg

This $600
car is no toy and is ready to be released in China next year.

The single seater aero car totes VW (Volkswagen) branding.

Volkswagen did a lot of very highly protected testing of this car in Germany, but it was not announced until now where the car would make its first appearance

The car was introduced at the VW stockholders meeting as the most economical car in the world is presented. The initial objective of the prototype was to prove that 1 liter of fuel could deliver 100 kilometers of travel.

Spartan interior doesn't sacrifice safety

The aero design proved essential to getting the desired result.
The body is 3.47 meters long and just 1.25 meters wide, and a little over a meter high.The prototype was made completely of carbon fiber and is not painted to save weight.

The power plant is a one cylinder diesel, positioned ahead of the rear axle and combined with an automatic shift controlled by a knob in the interior.

Safety was not compromised as the impact and roll-over protection is comparable to the GT racing cars.


The Most Economic Car in the World will be on sale next year:

Better than an Electric Car 258 miles/gallon: IPO 2010 in Shanghai
This is a single-seat car From conception to production: 3 years
and the company is headquartered in Hamburg , Germany . Will be
selling for 4000 Yuan, equivalent to US $600.. Gas tank
capacity = 1.7 gallons Speed = 62 74.6 Miles/hour Fuel
efficiency = 258 miles/gallon Travel distance with a full tank =
404 miles

Comments

Why haven't I seen this car yet? If it's really made here, people should be driving it, right?

Then again, even the Chinese don't like buying Chinese-made products.

Why haven't I seen this car yet? If it's really made here, people should be driving it, right?

Then again, even the Chinese don't like buying Chinese-made products.

Having read this I thought it was rather informative.
I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put
this informative article together. I once again find myself
personally spending a significant amount of time both reading and
leaving comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

Blah blah blah . . . it's ALL a crock of sh*t and we keep getting our hopes up. It's their plan to keep looking good. WTF!?!?!?

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