A single-seat car from Volkswagen offering
100km/litre appears on various blogs as the shape of things to come: a car from
China that costs $600 and can achieve 258 miles/gallon using a single cylinder
diesel engine.
Blogs
claim it is not toy but will be introduced next year in China – a single-seater
aerodynamic car that carries VW branding.
In
fact, Volkswagen completed much of the testing under high security in Germany.
It
was introduced earlier this year to Volkswagen AG stockholders as ‘the most
economical car in the world’.
The initial goal of the prototype was to prove
that one litre of fuel could deliver 100 km of travel. But the aerodynamic
profile contributed to the winning result.
However,
even with its spartan interior no sacrifice was made on safety as the car has
roll-over bars and impact protection comparable with a GT car.
The
body is 3.47m in length, 1.25m wide and about 1m high; it is constructed
entirely of carbon fibre – an expensive aeronautical material. To save weight
it has not been painted.
The
single-cylinder diesel is positioned ahead of the rear axle; an automatic gear
shift is controlled from inside the cabin using a single lever.
Blogs
ask the question: Have Chrysler, Ford and General Motors missed the boat again? ∎
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