Volkswagen Nils Concept Set to Debut at Frankfurt Motor Show

The tiny, single-seat Volkswagen Nils concept will make its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this month. It is supposed to offer sports car-like performance with zero emissions and silent propulsion.

Volkswagen says the Nils concept is designed just like a Formula 1 racer. Much like Audi’s Urban Concepts, the single seat is mounted in the center of the car, the engine resides just aft of the driver, and the 17-inch wheels — wrapped in low rolling resistance tires — are placed outboard of the body. Entrance into the cabin is provided by polycarbonate gullwing doors, one placed on each side of the car.The body has few sharp angles and two small rear fins to help with aerodynamics. Never mind the F1 inspiration: the look is more akin to a narrow egg placed on wheels.

The Nils is powered by a 15 kW electric motor – with a 25 kW over boost-like function – that draws juice from a 5.3-kWh lithium-ion battery. VW says that allows for a range of about 40 miles, and can be charged using a 230-volt outlet (the standard in Europe) in about two hours. According to Volkswagen, 73.9 percent of German commuters drive less than 15.5 miles on driving to work, making the Nils the right size and right range for urban commuters.

The Nils weighs only 1014 lbs, thanks to all-aluminum construction, and is expected to accelerate from 0-62 mph in under 11 seconds. The electric motor pushes out around 95 lb-ft of torque and sends powerto the rear wheels through a one-speed transmission.

To help quell nerves over the Nils’ diminutive size, the is equipped with a radar-based automatic braking system, a collision warning system, four disc brakes, and electronic stability control. The wing doors include a crash reinforcement section, and the aluminum space frame has been designed to act as a safety cell in the event of a collision.

The Volkswagen Nils concept will make its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.

Source: Volkswagen

VW to invest in renewable energy sources

Europe's biggest automaker, Volkswagen, plans to invest almost one billion euros ($A1.37 billion) in renewable energies over the coming years, a media report says.

VW will invest in an offshore wind park and is in talks with four companies with the goal of choosing a partner by the end of the year, the Financial Times Deutschland said, citing a source close to the matter.

The wind park is expected to have a generating capacity of 200 megawatts, about one fifth the capacity of an average Germany nuclear power plant, the report said, or about as much as 275,000 German households consume in a year.

Investing in wind, solar and hydroelectric electricity production will help VW meet CO2 emission limits that it has set for itself by around 2020, the newspaper said.

VW is of course also developing electric cars, along with all other major global auto manufacturers.

VW to unveil Single-Seat Electric Car

Volkswagen is poised to unveil a single-seat, ultra-frugal, zero-emission electric car. The German carmaker also plans to offer a “full-service package” for customers of its electric cars by selling them power from renewable sources, Jürgen Leohold, head of research, told the Financial Times.

VW’s one-seat concept or experimental car will showcase the carmaker’s ambition to build vehicles that generate no carbon dioxide, even on a “well-to-wheel” calculation that takes into account the carbon dioxide generated by power plants.

“It’s a new kind of mobility – a new vehicle concept,” Mr Leohold said. “Also, it’s physics. If you limit a car to one person, you can make it smaller, less weight, you need less energy to transport the person, and then obviously … it can be better on CO2 and fuel efficiency”.

Mr Leohold said that the single-seater concept car, to be unveiled within weeks, was designed for limited purposes, such as commuting, and that most drivers would want a larger vehicle for longer trips.

He declined to reveal the car’s range, top speed or other details ahead of its unveiling.

VW’s research head said that the one-seater would be “even better” than the XL1 Super Efficient Vehicle, a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid capable of 313 miles per gallon which the company unveiled in January.

Mr Leohold said that the car’s CO2 count “depends on what kind of electricity you put in the battery”, but if powered from renewable sources it would be “zero”.

Single-passenger vehicles are a rarity in the car industry apart from niche products such as the Segway scooter – which is prohibited from roads in many countries – or the ill-fated Sinclair C5, a British-designed electric tricycle launched in 1985 that flopped because of safety and other concerns.

A Photo Tribute to the Ladies of the 2011 Wörthersee Show

Having brought you all the automotive-related news from the 2011 Wörthersee Tour including the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet in GTI and R formats, the 503HP Audi A1 and the Skoda Fabia RS2000 Convertible, now it is time for us to share with you something related but far more spicier if you catch our drift…

Yes, that is right; we are talking about a photo gallery of the booth professionals and ladies who made their presence felt in full force at the world’s largest annual Volkswagen Group meeting, which took place in Austria from June 1 to 4. Hop over the break to get a taste of what you missed at Lake Wörthersee in our photo set that includes more than 70 images.

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A Photo Tour of the VW Group’s 2011 Wörthersee Festival with 150 Images

For the past thirty year, tens of thousands of enthusiasts of Volkswagen Group cars assemble on the shores of Lake Worthersee in Austria to participate in the largest festival of its kind in the world. Over the years, Volkswagen and the other brands of the German group including Audi, Seat and Skoda, have used the show to unveil special concepts, new models and studies that hint at future production versions or accessories.

At this year’s event (June 1 to 4, 2011), the VW Group prepared several vehicles for the festival including the production VW Golf GTI 35 Edition with 235HP, the VW Golf Cabriolet GTI and R concepts, the wild 503HP Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro study, and the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Convertible prototype. As you may have noticed, the company didn’t show much love for its Seat brand which was left to display its current lineup.

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Yuhan Zhang’s Aqua is the Personal VW Hovercraft Concept of Tomorrow

Before budget airlines and the Channel Tunnel, the faster way to get from Britain to France was by hovercraft. The largest of these was the SNR4, a 300-ton behemoth capable of carrying 380 passengers and 40 cars at a speed of 70 mph (113 km/h). In the 1950s and ‘60s, magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics were predicting a future where we’d all be cruising around in affordable, personal hovercrafts. Sadly, it was not to be.

Now, some 11 years after the last SNR4 was retired, 21-year-old industrial design graduate Yuhan Zhang has resurrected the personal hovercraft in the form of her Volkswagen Aqua study.

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Was ist das? Strange Volkswagen-Skoda Hybrid Spied in Munich

Roman Jagatić is the latest addition to our ever-growing list of readers-turned-into spy photographers. Roman stumbled upon this strange looking Volkswagen-Skoda hybrid prototype parked at a gas station in Munich, Germany. The test car appears to combine a modified body of a Skoda Octavia with a Volkswagen front end.

While we do not have a definite answer to what it may be, possible scenarios include a test car for a new Skoda Octavia and a prototype for a Volkswagen-badged model for select markets outside Europe.

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VW Golf GTI Cabriolet Concept Live from Wörthersee. Should it be Built?

Yesterday, we brought you the first images of Volkswagen’s Golf GTI Cabriolet study but today we have live photos from the car’s world premiere at the Wörthersee meeting in Austria along with official information on the concept.

The hotted-up convertible is based on the standard Golf GTI with power coming from the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine delivering 210-horsepower and 280 Nm (207-lbs/ft) of peak torque at 1.800 rpm.

Volkswagen says the open-air model’s performance matches that of the closed-top GTI with a 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of 7 seconds and a top speed of around 240km/h (149 mph).

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Volkswagen Unwraps Two More Golf R Concepts at Wörthersee Tour

If there’s one thing die-hard Volkswagen fans visiting this week’s annual Wörthersee Tour in Austria aren’t going to complain about, is the lack of Golf concepts. We have already shown you the Golf GTI Cabriolet and Golf R Cabriolet and now we bring you two more studies based on the flagship Golf R hatchback. The two Golf R Color concepts were first shown at the Geneva Salon this past March and were created to demonstrate the numerous customization possibilities. Read more »

Live from Wörthersee: Skoda’s Hot Fabia RS 2000 Concept

Not that the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Concept needed any help to draw the attention of automotive fans at the Wörthersee show, but the Volkswagen Group was t enough to bring some very pretty faces (and bodies…) to the Czech firm’s stand. You can get a better look at the car and the girls in whichever order you prefer in our high resolution photo gallery right after the jump. Read more »

Volkswagen Brings Golf GTI Cabriolet Study as well to Wörthersee Meet

And the news just keeps dropping in from the largest annual GTI Meet in the world at lake Wörthersee in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia. Aside from the 270-horsepower strong Golf R Cabriolet concept that we told you about earlier today, Volkswagen also brought along a GTI study of the recently launched drop-top model.

We’re still short on information as Volkswagen has not yet published any details, but it’s safe to say that the Golf GTI Convertible is powered by either the standard Golf GTI hatchback’s 210HP 2.0-liter TFSI or the Golf GTI 35th Anniversary Edition’s 235HP 2.0-liter turbocharged unit sourced from the Golf R. Obviously power is transferred to the front wheels either through a six-speed manual gearbox or VW’s DSG transmission. The car also appears to be riding on a lowered suspension.

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Volkswagen Debuts Golf R Cabriolet Study with 270-Horses at Wörthersee

This year’s Wörthersee meet in Austria is turning out to be quite an event for the Germans with the Volkswagen Group brands churning out one concept after the other. Following the debut of the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Convertible, the German group pulled the veils off the Golf R Cabriolet study.

Using the recently introduced new Golf Cabriolet as a base, the designers and engineers of the Volkswagen R GmbH division built a convertible version of the gutsy Golf R hatchback.

Just like its closed top counterpart, the soft-top Golf R Cabriolet is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine putting out 270-horses and 350Nm (258.2 lb-ft) of peak torque from a low 2,500 rpm. The standard sprint to 100km/h (62mph) from standstill comes in less than 6.0 seconds while top speed is limited at 250km/h (155mph).

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Toyota Sales Plunge More than 33% in May, Chrysler Group up by 10%

The numbers for U.S. auto sales for the month of May are out and as expected, Japanese automakers continue to be hit hard by the ongoing production disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in their home market. As a result, Toyota’s sales plunged 33.4% over the year-ago month to 108,387 units, while rivaling Honda saw its sales fall 22.5% to 90,773 vehicles, Nissan recorded a 9.1% drop to 76,148 units and Mazda 17,875 vehicles, down 20.9%.

General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 221,192 vehicles in May posting a decline of 1%, while the Ford Motor Co. said its sales decreased by 0.1% to 192,253 cars, trucks and SUVs.

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VW Releases Golf GTI Edition 35 Specs and Price, Says it gets a Detuned Version of the Golf R’s Engine [with Video]

Developed to celebrate 35 years since the launch of the original Volkswagen Golf GTI in 1976, the GTI Edition 35 will make its premiere at the Worthersee Tour (June 1-4) in Austria. A 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol engine that develops 235-horsepower and 300 Nm of torque (221 lb-ft), 25HP and 20 Nm more than the standard GTI, powers the limited edition hot-hatch.

However, Volkswagen says the engine is not an upgraded version of the standard GTI's unit but a detuned version of the AWD Golf R's four-pot, adapted for a FWD setup. With 25 more horsepower than the standard GTI and a power-to-weight ratio of 6 kg/hp, the Golf GTI Edition 35 reaches a top speed of 247 km/h (153 mph) and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.6 seconds (gains of 7 km/h and 0.3 seconds respectively).

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KBR Motorsport Tricks Out Volkswagen’s Passat CC

It has been a long time since we last saw a tuning firm getting its hands on the Volkswagen Passat CC, but today we received news on a freshly developed styling and performance package for the mid-size sports saloon by German firm KBR Motorsport. Read more »

Volkswagen Studying Tiguan SUV Production in North America to Lower Costs

Citing inside management sources from Volkswagen, a news report from German weekly business magazine WirtschaftsWoche said the German automaker wants to produce its Tiguan compact SUV in North America in order to reduce costs and protect itself against fluctuation of exchange rates. Officially, Volkswagen declined to comment on the magazine report. Read more »

It’s a Wrap: CFC’s Artsy Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible

The soon-to-be-replaced VW New Beetle Convertible has caught the attention of Bavarian foil specialist Car Film Components (CFC), which has revealed a rather artsy-looking tuning proposal. The highlight of the tune is of course the exterior with certain parts of the body including the doors, side panels, hood and bonnet covered in a velvet black wrap while the front and rear bumpers, the wheel arches and the rocker panels are draped in a sticker like motif. The pice for materials and labor is €2,200 or about US$3,140. Read more »

British Study Reveals the Most Popular Hairdresser’s Car in Real Life

And no, despite what you may have heard or read, the Audi TT ain’t the most popular car among hairdressers – or at least not in Britain. According to a new study made available today by UK women's car insurance specialist Diamond, that title goes to…*drums please*…the one and only, MINI One hatchback. In fact, the BMW Group’s MINI brand had two vehicles in the top five positions.

The UK insurance firm came to this conclusion after looking at data from over 18,000 hairdressers in Britain. The company said the MINI One is three and a half times more likely to be driven by someone working as a hairdresser than everyone else.

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VW Prices the Passat from $20,675 in the U.S.

Volkswagen has announced pricing for the all-new 2012 Passat, the firm’s midsize sedan design to meet the needs of U.S. consumers. The four-door saloon will have a starting MSRP of $19,995 (€14,110), not including a $770 destination charge that increased the price to $20,675.

Built at Volkswagen’s newly inaugurated Chattanooga plant in the state of Tennessee, the Passat is available with three engine options and eight equipment levels. The starting price corresponds to the 2.5L model, which features a 170HP 2.5-liter petrol engine mated to a manual gearbox. The entry-level Passat comes equipped with automatic dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth connectivity, steering wheel audio controls and VW's no-charge three-year/36,000 mile Carefree Maintenance Program as standard.

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By the People, for the People: Volkswagen Asks China to Help it Design a New Model

Here’s an idea: why not simply ask the public what they want in a car? Focus groups are one thing, but Volkswagen is taking this concept to extremes with its newly launched People’s Car Project. The ostensible goal of the project is to solicit advice from some of China’s 450 million internet users; advise that will shape a new model for the Chinese domestic market.

Dubbed “mass manufacturing” by Volkswagen, the Orwellian-sounding project will run for one year and gather Chinese consumers’ input in the form of text, images and film through the Zaoche website. There will also be competitions where users can vote for their favourite designs, and prizes will be handed out to the best. If proven successful, the same idea could be implemented in other regions as well.

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