Jalopnik
YES! Have confirmed that the 3.2 Roadster will be sold in America. Usually, we in the US are left to look on in envy as Europeans get all manner of wacky low-volume sportscars, but the firm's parent company, Funke & Will AG (How's that for '80s flashback?), will be showing the vehicle at the Chicago Auto Show in February. Sales will commence later this year. The base Roadster has a 3.2L Volkswagen V6 with 255bhp powering 890kgs. A Turbo model brings 355bhp and a 0-60 time of 3.8secs, while a further 415bhp upgrade is capable of nearly 200mph. No prices yet, but the company plans on announcing which dealerships they'll be working with in late February, so expect more details then. Yes! The full press release follows the jump.
GROSSENHAIN, Germany, January 28 /PRNewswire/ — The YES! Roadster 3.2 will be on display during the 100th Chicago Autoshow from February 6th to February 17th 2008. We are looking forward to welcoming on the exhibition stand SH34 in the South Hall.
The overwhelmingly positive response from media, customers, experts and business partners reflects the great interest of the public in the puristic lightweight and proves once again the successful implementation of this concept, true to the motto: PURE DRIVING PLEASURE.
Due to the equally positive feedback from America, Funke & Will AG has extended distribution of the YES! Roadster 3.2 to North America and Canada this year. For this purpose the company has founded YES! North America Inc.
The current model is equipped with a 3.2ltr V6 motor. With its 255 hp, the 890 kg two-seater can accelerate to 60 m/h in just 4.8 seconds and gives you the driving pleasure typical of the YES!. If that's not enough for you, set your sights on the YES! Roadster 3.2 Turbo. With this turbo version, Funke & Will advance into the realm of super sports cars. Thanks to an exhaust gas turbocharger, the same original aggregate yields 355 hp, catapulting the driver of the merely 930 kg roadster from 0-60 mph in just 3.8 seconds with a top speed of 175mph. A specially developed rear spoiler ensures the necessary downforce to keep the 355 hp safely on the road. If more power is required there is an option for a 415bhp upgrade pushing the YES! Roadster 3.2 turbo almost to the majic 200mph barrier.
In either guise the YES! Roadster 3.2 and Turbo offers supreme handling with almost supercar performance in the 3.2 Turbo. With comfort levels that make the car and everyday option and a generous choice of optional extras from heated seats to high quality satnav.
A select group of dealers are to be anounced at the end of Febuary which will service North America from the east to the west coast with additional dealers appointed in Canada.
Comments
This! Is! Great! News!
Was Funke & Will a seventies Comedy team? or an 80's pop-rock duo?????
I am concerned about the fact that there is only one exclamation point. If this were a really exciting car, it would have at least three exclamation points. Will extra punctuation be an option on future models?
@Andrewpetty: Maybe. Or there could be variants like Hell Yes! or Yes Sir!
@evoCS: or Yes VW Electrics!
I think more car companies need punctuation in their titles.
I was really confused when I read the title. I thought you guys were really excited about the 3.2 roadster, so much so that you forgot to mention who made it.
f-ing Monday.
But we already have the Beetle convertible!
Cool little car. If it stays under $60 k and has some service support I would cross shop it with a boxster or Z4.
Stimpy!! Do not touch the shiny red button!
@Mad_Science: Ditto. Where's my coffee?
Bring on Die Funk. .und Will!!!
Do I really want to go 200 mph in something with the wheelbase of a Miata? I feel like this thing would be darty as hell anywhere above buck fifty.
It all comes down to price! If they could somehow sell the base version for around $30K I might actually say Yes!, but if this is in Boxster S territory then I will have to say No!
@dolo54: Yeah... (notice lack of exclamation point)
Well, they both have four wheels, convertible top, VW components, ...steering wheels...transmissions...use fuel...ahh have some seats... are available in silver... help me out with the other significant similarities.
It's an ugly little brute. It should be fun though. That said, it'll be far too expensive.
@Fitty7lax: If it has the wheelbase of a Miata then it has like 8 inches on any 911.
@Fitty7lax: Don't worry about it! Just take it out on a 1.5 mile runway in Florida! What could go wrong?!
!
@no_slushbox: For some reason I thought the Miata had a way larger wheelbase, but the 911 is actually .8 inches longer. They are both very short at around 92 inches, this would probably be a bit longer.
This could be very fun. Small, light, powerful, with a sparse interior. Yes!
Great! Wow! Cool! Narly! How Much?
Thinking this is mid-engined RWD, right?
Does it have a top or it is a true roadster?
The automotive equivalent of a snub nose Smith & Wesson.
YES! I think you've finally helped me figure out what that odd car was that I saw back in October of '06. I was on my way to Road Atlanta for Petit LeMans and about three cars ahead of me was some odd roadster that I'd never seen before with European number plates. I even went to far as to pull out into the opposite lane of traffic to get a better view of the car (no room to safely pass to get closer, unfortunately) and could not figure out what it was. I looked for it when I got to the track too, but couldn't find it. I'm pretty sure now that this was it. Too bad it will probably be prohibitively expensive.
damn you halopnik! fix the urls in the gallery so i can lust over another small convertible
Okay, How many weeks before someone stateside Prefontaines one of these bad boys?????
I think I'd save a lot of brass and have a lot more fun in the hills with a Se7en.
@Fitty7lax: looks like this wheelbase is 4mm longer than the F40's. Then again, the F40 had some aero on it.
I may have my loyalties to Ariel, but this car does look like a good one. 'Cept for the VW electrics...
I've got a better idea... let's gut the engine and transmission and replace them with lithium ion batteries and an electric motor and a one-speed transmission. That way, we'll get the weight up to a proper 1,300 kilograms, and we can double the price.
Now that you've read my brilliant business plan, who will loan me $300 million to make this vision a reality?
I tried importing one, but they gave me the long distance runaround. Maybe now I can get a deal on one for five percent for nothing.
With that wheelbase though you're liable to spin out on the roundabouts in and around the lakes. But I like driving close to the edge.
Tip your waiters folks.
@damnElantra: Yes! galleries are fixed.
Any idea how much this thing costs? I looked around at about a half dozen websites and there wasn't a word. Not of course that I could afford it, but I'm just curious. It's kind of pretty.
@goatrope: I noticed in Autoblog's little Tesla review that the batteries weigh 1000lbs and the weight of the car is up to 2600lbs from about 2050 of the Elise. How is this useful. The engine in a Elise is a 1.8l 4 cylinder Toyota mill. The car already gets great mileage. Why would you add tens of thousands to marginally improve that?
The price would have to be mighty low for me to take one over an Elise. As far as I'm concerned, there's no cooler looking car that's anywhere near as fast as the lotus for less than $45k. The Sky is a close second, imo.
Volkswagen motor....meh
@goatrope:
No, no, no... It's not that easy.
You need powerpoint, man! Powerpoint!
dammit dammit dammit, they were so close. then they had to use a VW.
Look this up in your Funk & Wagnel's.
(That would be the late 60s, maybe early 70s, children.)
Jon Anderson is making cars now?
is there a hard top version? if so, color me intrigued.
@ Daily Dwayne
I'm with you. Hard top!
YES! Great news.
@penaloza:
"I noticed in Autoblog's little Tesla review that the batteries weigh 1000lbs and the weight of the car is up to 2600lbs from about 2050 of the Elise. How is this useful. The engine in a Elise is a 1.8l 4 cylinder Toyota mill. The car already gets great mileage. Why would you add tens of thousands to marginally improve that? "
This is more of a proof of concept what an EV platform can do. The performance is greater than the elise, and the efficiency is even greater than the elise (concievably you can be completely self sufficient with solar panels on your roof, but in a gas car you can't & remember gas engine 20% efficiency, roadster's motor 90%). Battery tech is continually improving (recently there is news of nanotechnology tech improving li-ion density 10X), meaning cost and weight of batteries will be driven down.
Not to mention the torque is all avaliable at 0rpm and that alone should provide a unique enough experience to justify the price. I haven't seen where exotic cars have really been "useful" (since traditionally they are rich people toys anyways) so I don't think the Tesla Roadster deserves as much criticism as it gets. The first expensive model is to help fund less expensive models down the road.
@goatrope:
I would hope most of your skepticism is probably directed to Tesla as a company itself rather than at the concept of an EV roadster. The production models haven't come out yet, but from what I am seeing in terms of the performance it's not bad for it's price. That's not even considering it's a startup (starting a company costs lots of money) and many of the components are more expensive to manufacture than normal cars more due to the fact they don't have economy of scale working for them (in both their car manufacturing and also in the EV parts such as the battery pack). I mean for a car weighing 2700lbs (also passing all the crash tests including a 50mph rear crash) and with only 250hp and only 2 gears (revised to 1 gear with liquid cooled motor according to news) it performs quite well even compared to current ICE cars. Against all those odds, if Tesla delivers I don't see why it isn't a great achievement.
Imagine if Funke and Will hired Marv Albert to shill for them, a la Modernista.
The question isn't whether your low-volume, European roadster has a VW engine, sub-1000 kg weight, or can accelerate from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds.
The real question is... when you hoon it, does it return the favor?
YES! And it counts!
Looks sweet, but will it have two drummers?
@STOPCRAZYPP ... Completely agree with you.
Its about the concept of an electric sports car. apart from the efficiency of an electric car being much higher than an ICE vehicle, theres the fact that the motor will have a large torque band (almost from start to may be 9k rpm) where the torque will remain constant. I've heard a lot of people crib about how EVs would suck (based on what they'd seen at that time), because of teh performance. This should prove them wrong.
I'm talking bout the tesla not the YES!
You should get the real picture of this car. Its a low volume car made by a start-up of german students. The price for the first gen car with 4 cylinders was about 65K € which is about 100K $. Expect the prise for the Second gen car to be higher due to the bigger engine and the other improvements. This is not the car you trade for your Z4, it's much more exclusive and hence more expensive. As there are enough people to pay good money for this, i'm sure they'll sell a few over there. By the way - can't get nothing better than VW technology :-) Greetings from Germany
I really like the look, but the red button (harzards?) on the dash is distracting. It looks like it launches rockets or converts the car into a boat.
All kinds of horsepower and engine details, yet no details about the handling except offers supreme handling?? You know what they say, "I could get a good look at a T-Bone by sticking my head up a..." Wait, maybe I do want to stick my head up...ahh, whatever. Give me more performance figures other than 0-60 time..and this is coming from someone who drives a 2-ton V8 coupe.
I'm slightly more efficient than I previously was... YES!