Volkswagen has unveiled this mad concept, the L1, at the Frankfurt motor show, with some genuinely impressive headline figures for economy and a KTM X-Bow style monocoque chassis.
So it won’t set any pulses racing with its 99mph top speed and a 0-60mph crawl of 14.2sec, but a clever two-cylinder, 800cc, diesel-electric hybrid engine bolted to a 380kg carbon fibre and aluminium body means the L1 is capable of a whopping 189mpg on the combined cycle while emitting just 39g CO2/km. Evo
How has Volkswagen achieved such stunning figures? Well, the L1 features a hi-tech carbon fibre chassis that is both incredibly strong and light. The car’s streamlined teardrop shape has also been honed in the wind tunnel, resulting in an incredibly low drag co-efficient of 0.19Cd. As a result, its tiny 10-litre fuel tank provides a range of 416 miles between refills.
Neat touches include an iPod-inspired touch-sensitive control to open its jet-fighter style canopy, while rear-view cameras are used in place of traditional door mirrors. AutoExpress
The L1 is a result of an extensive Volkswagen research project which commenced in 1998.
It looked into ways of saving production costs in exotic materials such as carbon fibre, as well as combining tiny petrol engines and electric motors to give huge fuel consumption.
The original concept was ordered by Volkswagen supervisory board head Dr Ferdinand Piech in 2002.
In 2002 on the eve of his retiring from the role of VW Group chairman, Dr Piech drove it from his office in Wolfsburg to the VW shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg, recording 317·4mpg at an average speed of 43·5mph.
“We will never build a one-litre car,” he said as he stepped out of the cockpit, “but it could give us the knowledge to build a two-litre car.”
That research concept was retired to the company’s museum in Wolfsburg, but in the R&D department work continued. Telegraph.co.uk
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