Volkswagen revealed its halo concept car for the Tokyo motor show, the EcoRacer. Bodied of carbon fiber, the mid-engined roadster gets around 69 mpg from VW's 1.4-liter diesel Twincharger engine (that supercharged/turbocharged gizmo revealed in Frankfurt). Zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) comes in 6.3 seconds (using VW's DSG double-clutch autoshift box) and the racer can reach a top speed of 142 mph. The carbon-fiber body structure uses a polycoque design — which we know is used in boats, but couldn't define even if we'd had our coffee yet. Something about using two separate structures, one for each passenger area, each supported by the strength of its outer shell.
Read the whole press release here.
Related:
Frankfurt Premiere: Volkswagen GT Twincharger [internal]