VW has sent out an unbelievably upbeat press release for its four new up! design studies: the swiss up!, the winter up!, the x up!, and the cargo up!. Silly names, right?
This is the VW UP! Lite concept, debuting moments ago at the LA Auto Show. It's a four-seat, front-wheel-drive, diesel-electric hybrid with 70MPG fuel economy. While it's not production-intent, Ze Germans have announced plans for an ultra-efficient compact by 2011.
What we thought was an electric minivan is in fact a quiet little "3+1" city car. What we believed to be an 82-horsepower zero emissions concept was just that. Volkswagen says it's the Beetle of the future; we're thinking Polo.
Last night the above commercial called "Das Auto" was shown here on German TV before an expected announcement today, one day before the Frankfurt Auto Show, of a new Smart-fighting concept car called the "Up!" Yes, that's an exclamation point in the name of the concept car, and no, we've no idea why it's there. While we …