VW’s Sleek ‘One-Liter Car’ Gets 235 Miles Per Gallon
July 12, 2008 · Print This Article
This sexy looking vehicle might look like the future, but it’s going to be here sooner than you think. The best part is, it gets a stunning 235 miles per gallon. Yes, you read that right.
Volkswagen calls this baby the ‘One-Liter Car’, so named because that’s how much fuel it takes to get it 100 kilometers. It’s been on the back burner for six years now – the company’s been waiting for the material the body is made out of, carbon fiber, wasn’t expected to become affordable until 2012. Carbon fiber is a lightweight material that results in the entire car weighing only 660 pounds.
Well, lucky for car porn enthusiasts, VW has decided to start building a limited number of One-Liters in 2010 in their prototype shop, which will allow them to build about 1,000 a year to start.
From Wired’s Autopia:
VW unveiled the slick two-seater concept six years ago at a stockholder’s meeting in Hamburg. To prove it was a real car, Chairman Ferdinand Piech personally drove it from Wolfsburg to Hamburg. At the time, he said the car could see production when the cost of its carbon monocoque dropped from 35,000 Euros (about $55,000) to 5,000 Euros (about $8,000) — something he figured would happen in 2012. With carbon fiber being used in everything from airliners to laptops these days, VW’s apparently decided the cost is competitive enough to build at least a few hundred One-Liters.
VW’s engineers — who spent three years developing the car — made extensive use of magnesium, titanium and aluminum to bring it in at less than one-third the weight of a Toyota Echo. According to Canadian Driver, the front suspension assembly weighs just 18 pounds. The six-speed transmission features a magnesium case, titanium bolts and hollow gears; it weighs a tad more than 50 pounds. The 16-inch wheels are carbon fiber.
The magnesium steering wheel weighs a little more than a pound. How much of the concept car’s exotic hardware makes it to the production model remains to be seen.
Drool. The future of green cars is looking very nice. VW has really thought of every last detail with the One-Liter, which is incredibly aerodynamic and energy-efficient. Get all of the details at Wired’s Autopia blog.
Link [Wired]
Photo credit: Volkswagen
Related Posts:
Hyper Efficient Car Built in 1973 Gets 377 MPG!Monster Smart Car – Does it Get Any Cooler?
Bring Back the Cute Micro Cars from the 1940s-60s!
Sweet! The Dutch Build the World’s First Solar Speedboat
Art Etched Into the Dirt on Car Windows
My 7th grace science teacher had a theory that cars this energy efficient have been around for decades but that oil companies had been blocking their reproduction and sale. Even without my tin-foil hat on, I think that one might be true.