This year, Volkswagen celebrates 60 years of importing vehicles to the UK, so we’re delighted to celebrate at the 20^th Goodwood Festival of Speed on 12^th-14^th July (dubbed ‘the largest motoring garden party in the world’), where UK motoring fans will get their first chance to see some of the most exciting new Volkswagen models.

Taking pride of place on the Volkswagen stand, and also making its way up the famous hill climb, will be the XL1.  This super-innovative, ultra-frugal model looks like a vision of the future, but it is in fact already in limited production. 

The XL1 is the world’s most fuel-efficient production vehicle, with an official combined fuel consumption figure of 313 mpg and CO₂ emissions of 21 g/km, and it is also one of the most advanced vehicles in the world.  Its body is made largely of carbon-fibre reinforced polymer, while its drivetrain melds a two-cylinder 800 cc diesel engine with an electric motor.  Like any good supercar, it is also low (at 1,282 mm high it is lower than a Porsche Boxster) and features scissor-opening doors (although its 120-litre boot does make it somewhat more practical than supercar enthusiasts may like).

Next to the XL1 on the Volkswagen stand is a rather faster machine, the Polo WRC car.  This bespoilered beast is currently taking the World Rally Championship by storm, and visitors to the Festival of Speed will get to understand just what makes it so special, as it will also be powering up Goodwood’s famous hill.

Among those driving the XL1 will be Formula One legend and six-times Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx, and Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, outgoing Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand responsible for development, who will also pilot the Polo WRC.

If all of that seems a little far removed from what you might expect to find in a Volkswagen showroom, visitors to the Festival of Speed will also get the chance to see the latest iterations of two more familiar Volkswagens.

On the Volkswagen stand we’ll be exhibiting the exhilarating new Golf GTI alongside its frugal yet feisty sibling, the Golf GTD.  The GTI needs little introduction; since it first appeared on the market some 37 years ago, it has become an icon, combining accessible performance, sharp design and practicality like no other car.  The latest GTI comes with a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine producing up to 230 PS, meaning it can sprint from standstill to 62 mph in 6.4 seconds and on to a 155 mph top speed. 

The GTD, meanwhile, proves that parsimony at the pumps need not mean a hair-shirt driving Experience.  Its 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine packs 184 PS and 380 Nm of torque, helping it to reach 62 mph from rest in just 7.5 seconds and hit 142 mph flat out, yet it returns 67.3 mpg while emitting just 109 g/km of CO₂. 

Article source: www.volkswagen.co.uk

The world’s most fuel-efficient car, the Volkswagen XL1, which was first unveiled at the Qatar Motor Show in 2011, has now been confirmed for an initial production run of 250 examples.

Pioneering construction techniques, an advanced plug-in hybrid drivetrain and innovative packaging all play a part in allowing the XL1 to return 313 mpg on the combined cycle while emitting 24 g/km of CO2 to set a new benchmark for vehicle efficiency.

Powering the XL1 is a compact 800 cc TDI two-cylinder common rail diesel engine developing 48 PS. It’s linked to an electric motor producing 27 PS, resulting in a total of 75 PS – a modest output yet more than enough when the low kerb weight (795 kg) of the vehicle is taken into account.

The TDI engine is linked to an electric motor and a seven-speed DSG gearbox with an automatic clutch mounted between each unit. The electric motor can either work independently of the TDI engine or in tandem when accelerating. Accelerating from rest to 62 mph can be achieved in 11.9 seconds; the electronically limited top speed is 99 mph. Thanks to its plug-in hybrid system, the two-seater can cover a distance of up to 50 km in all-electric mode and therefore with zero local emissions.

In both its styling and packaging the XL1 draws on lessons learned from the 1-Litre car (2002) and the L1 concept (2009). The XL1 has evolved to feature staggered seating with the driver and passenger placed next to each other in a body structure made from advanced new materials providing immense strength yet weighing just 230 kg.

To make such weight savings possible, and yet viable for series production, Volkswagen developed and patented a new system for the manufacture of the Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) parts on the car called the Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) process.

In total the XL1 weighs 795 kg. In addition to the body structure, the weight is accounted for by the drivetrain (227 kg), the running gear (153 kg), the interior including a pair of bucket seats (80 kg) and the electrical system (105 kg). In total just 23.2 per cent of the car (184 kg) is made out of either steel or iron.

Further savings are made through the extensive use of lightweight materials including magnesium (wheels), ceramics (brake discs) and aluminium (dampers, steering system, brake calipers).

The styling of the XL1 is borne out of functional requirements – easy access to the interior is granted via a pair of elegant scissor doors that hinge on the A-pillar while the profile of the car has been honed in the wind tunnel, the result being a remarkable coefficient of drag figure of 0.186. The XL1’s overall length (3,970 mm) and width (1,682 mm) are similar to those of a Volkswagen Polo yet its height (1,184 mm) is more akin to that of a sports car.

The XL1 will be produced at Volkswagen’s Osnabrück factory in Germany.

Article source: www.volkswagwen.co.uk