Shaped like a cloud, the massive 8,893 square metres Volkswagen stand accommodated more than 50 vehicles, 2,100 lights, and roughly 80 kilometres of cables at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.
That was the scene where Volkswagen's new Up city car made its public debut this week at the world's biggest motor show, writes Padraic Deane from Frankfurt.
It was launched along with the recently unveiled new generation Beetle, new Tiguan SUV, and the new Golf cabriolet, which has already gone on sale in Ireland.
The NILS single-seat electric commuting vehicle concept also made its world premiere. This concept car, which features an aluminium space frame, wing doors, and free-standing wheels – has the dynamic performance of a sports car, yet travels silently, and with zero emissions.
The innovative and emotional side to Volkswagen was also on show on the stand, where it premiered the following models: the Beetle R concept, Beetle Fender, Polo R-Line, Tiguan R-Line, the Phaeton exclusive, along with the sports model of the Polo R WRC.
The only way is up
The Up is an entirely new small car design from Volkswagen. It offers maximum space on a minimal footprint, making it ideal for driving in the world’s cities. And it will be launched in Europe in December.
There are three versions for different budgets and needs: Take Up is the entry-level car, Move Up the comfort-oriented model and High Up the top version. At the car’s market launch, there will also be two models based on the High Up: Up black and Up white.
Making its debut in the Up in Frankfurt was a new generation of three-cylinder petrol engines, with outputs of 60bhp and 75bhp.
Combined fuel consumption as a BlueMotion technology version (including a stop/start system ) is 4.2 l/100km (67mpg ) in the 60bhp model, and CO2 emissions for this version are less than 100g/km.
Volkswagen says the Up is the future of commuting and, not resting on its laurels, Europe's biggest carmaker says that there are also plans for an Up with electric drive.
New sleeker looking Tiguan SUV
Sporting a new front end defined by horizontal lines to bring it into line with the latest Volkswagen 'design DNA', the new Tiguan looks sharper and sleeker than the current model.
The new look is dominated by horizontal lines on the front grille, bringing the model into line with other new Volkswagen models. The Tiguan now also once again bears a strong resemblance to its ‘big brother’ the Touareg.
At the rear, new two-part light clusters give the Tiguan a distinctive appearance. Again, similar to those of the Touareg, they form an ‘L’ shape, while the lower border of the lights also follows a horizontal geometry. The Tiguan should reach Irish shores very soon.
