Finally: Volkswagen Gives up! (Lots Of Pictures)

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

After how many years of showing design studies, concepts, and prototypes of the Up! small car at just about every motor show (it’s so diminutive, it fits in the container as an afterthought), Volkswagen is getting ready to sell the Up! in earnest. The midget-car will be will be unveiled Sept. 12 at the Frankfurt auto show, for a European launch by December of this year, Volkswagen says in an emailed statement.

First, the name. Usually, a concept car gets a new name, once it’s launched. The Up! has received so much name recognition that it would be a shame to throw all that away. So Volkswagen renamed the Up! to up!. That’s right, lowercase u, lowercase p, exclamation mark. Trademark that.

If you want to know more, and see tons of pictures, mixed with irrelevant histrionics, up! with you and jump …

Second, the car: According to Volkswagen, the carlet is “a small car with charisma, a small car with maximum space on a minimal footprint, a small car with the most fuel-efficient engines or an electric drive, a small car with intuitive infotainment and operating systems, a small car with the safety of a large car.” Reminds me of the days when we introduced the Polo in 1975 under the rather uninspired concept “Außen klein. Innen groß.” (Small on the outside, large on the inside. Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.) Speaking of the Ur-Polo: The new up! is 4 centimeters longer than the Polo of lore. The up! measures 3.54 meters, whereas the old Polo was 3.5 meters long (both around 11 feet 6 inches). There is no weight specified for the up! Let’s see how it fares against the old Polo, which weighed-in at 685 kg, that was 15kg less than its design target. More on Monday – if Volkswagen talks.

Third, the trims: The up! will come in three uppity trim levels. And hearing them, we brace ourselves for a new version of Hochdeutsch, the uplanguage: The entry-level up! will be the “take up!” The middling version is called “move up!” The top version is the “high up!” (There is room for a high-powered, not very gas-efficient version called “top up!” – I made that up!). For further market segmentation, there will be special versions of the high up!: the up! black and the up! white. That’s no joke. Speaking of language: The up! wreaks havoc with autocorrect.

Fourth, the engines: The up! comes with a new generation of equally small three-cylinder engines. They output a bit more than the old Polo that puttered along with 29.5 kW /40 hp under the hood. The up! has a choice of 44 kW / 60 hp and 55 kW / 75 hp. Advertised fuel consumption as a BlueMotion Technology version (including a Stop/Start system): 4.2 l/100 km (60hp) and 4.3 l/100 km (hp PS). That’s 56 mpg and 54.7 mpg respectively (non-EPA). Next to no fill up! Green up! your driveway: Both of these sub 1 liter engines emit less than 100 g/km CO2. A natural gas engine with 50 kW / 68 PS with the same basic configuration will follow. (Gas up? Probably not.) There are “definite plans” for an up! with an electric drive for the year 2013. (Charge up?)

Fifth: The gizmos: The car can be had with a PID. That’s a Portable Infotainment Device. According to Volkswagen, “the user simply snaps the PID into place above the centre console. Navigation, telephone and infotainment can now be controlled and viewed via the PID touchscreen.” If & when the car arrives stateside, Mr. LaHood will probably demand a Shut up! For distracted drivers, there is the optional City Emergency Braking. At speeds under 30 km/h, its laser sensor detects (careful now) “the risk of an imminent collision.” It “can reduce accident severity by initiating automatic brake interventions – and possibly even avoid a crash.” Copy, signed off by the Legal Dept.

Says the press release:

“Space utilization in the car is exceptionally good, because of its wheelbase – one of the longest in the segment – combined with an engine that is mounted well forward. Although the driver, front passenger and 2 rear passengers are travelling in a small car, it is by no means a cramped vehicle. On the contrary. Consider the boot: 251 litres are significantly more than is typical in the vehicle class of the up! When the rear seat is fully folded, cargo space even increases to 951 litres. These two values show that in its interior the up! will be a giant among small cars.”

History repeats again!

To my former colleagues in Wolfsburg: Descend into the archives. Find the original 1975 Polo catalog. Can’t miss it. It’s yellow. Says “Der Polo” on the outside. A lot of perfectly reusable copy from the hip 70s!




Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • 360joules 360joules on Aug 22, 2011

    Nein, danke. up! oder uP! oder Up! -- alles seid schlimmer als. Ich habe eine andere Name am liebstem: der VW Kotzen. Kleine Kotzen - Mitteln Kotzen - Grosse Kotzen.... mit dem Farben gelb-grun-braun... Die name Polo ist vorbei-Kotzen uber alles! (der Umlaut ist mit dem iPhone auch vorbei gewesen)

  • MaxHedrm MaxHedrm on Aug 23, 2011

    hmmm ... I think I want to see an up!R.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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