VW boss confirms 1-Liter car for 2010

Posted on Tuesday 9 October 2007

As outrageous as the idea of a 1-liter car sounds more reports have emerged confirming the ultra-frugal car is in fact in development and that it could be on the market by as early as 2010. At last month’s Frankfurt Motor Show senior VW exec Ferdinand Piëch claimed the car would be available by the end of the decade and now CEO Martin Winterkorn has backed up the claim as well as providing some of the production details.

First up Winterkorn stressed that the 1-Liter “would not be a best seller” and thus will only be produced in limited numbers. Its body will be constructed from plastic and magnesium and its power source will be a one-cylinder engine displacing just 0.3L. Top speed will be 120km/h and consumption will fall around the 1L/100km mark (235mpg), reports AFX.

If you still doubt that such a car could even be produced, remember that VW developed a concept version back in 2002 that sipped just 0.89L/100km.

When Volkswagen unveiled its 1-Liter concept car back in 2002 nobody that actually thought such a car could ever make it to production. The concept utilized lightweight construction techniques, superior aerodynamics and low resistance tires to achieve its amazing 1L/100km fuel consumption figure, something that would appear near impossible to commercialize. However, a recent promise from VW’s Ferdinand Piëch hints that it may in fact be in development.

With the 1-Liter project rumored to be under way, this new rendering shows us that designers are likely to retain the basic shape of the concept, as it’s one of the most aerodynamically efficient shapes possible. This means that any production version will have to keep the low-riding pod shape and narrow 1.25m width of the concept version.

In developing the concept car, designers realized that diesel was the only real option for the drive system. VW would probably go with another single-cylinder design with the latest in direct injection and construct it from aluminum to save weight. Even with such a small engine, which is tipped to displace less than 0.5L, the new car should be able to reach speeds of up to 120km/h thanks to its super-slippery drag coefficient of 0.159.

There’s still no official confirmation from VW that the car will enter production. Whether it will end up being just another technologically advanced yet commercially unsuccessful project like the VW Phaeton and Bugatti Veyron remains to be seen.