The Volkswagen up! is a city car, part of the Volkswagen Group New Small Family (NSF) series of models, unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). The up! was first shown as a series of concept cars, starting in 2007 with the Volkswagen up! Concept, also at the Frankfurt Motor Show. All up! concepts are designed by Volkswagen Group Chief Designer Walter de'Silva and Head Designer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars marque Klaus Bischoff. Shown at the Frankfurt launch were several further up! concept cars, including a 98 bhp GT up!, a natural gas-powered Eco-up! (with CO2 emissions of 79g/km) and a four-door Cross up!.
The original up! concept car used a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, however the production up! model will have a front-engine, front-wheel drive layout, using the Volkswagen Group MQB platform. It will be manufactured in Bratislava, Slovakia. The production up! will use a 3-cylinder 1.0 litre petrol engine. A plug-in electric up! is also expected to be launched in 2013.
The two-door up! concept car debuted at the 2007 IAA Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany, with a rear-wheel drive rear-mounted boxer engine and 18 inch roadwheels.
The up! interior is designed to accommodate four adults, and features flat-folding, air inflatable seats. It also has two monitors on the dashboard, one showing vehicle statistics and the other controlling the in-car multimedia system. The car measures 3.45 metres (11 ft 4 in) in length and has a width of 1.63 metres (5 ft 4 in).
Space up! Concept had all the features of the up! Concept, but has four-doors and is 23 centimetres (9.1 in) longer at 3.68 metres (12 ft 1 in) (15 centimetres (5.9 in) shorter than the Volkswagen Fox). The 'butterfly' doors open in a similar manner to those on the Mazda RX-8; the front doors conventionally hinged at the front, whilst the rears are hinged at the rear from the C-pillar; and this eliminates the B-pillar. Its wheelbase is also larger at 2.56 metres (8 ft 5 in) but retains the same width as the up! at 1.63 metres (5 ft 4 in).
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