According to some educated guessing at WorldCarFans, Volkswagen's Up! concept that is coming our way in the next few years will be renamed the Lupo, reviving a name that went out of production in 2005. WCF says they have official confirmation from sources that their guess is true, and that "Up!" will indeed form the middle of the Lupo name (see also: IROC and Scirocco). There's still time before we find out for sure, as the production Up!/Lupo isn't expected to be unveiled until the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011.



[Source: WorldCarFans]

There are a mind-boggling amount of video hosting services around. One of them, webcastr, let us know about a new video they're hosting that is Car and Driver's look at the VW Up! concept during the Frankfurt Motor Show. Unlike YouTube and other video sites, it's not that obvious to me how to embed the video to this post, so the picture above will just take you to the Webcastr page where the video is viewable. Since I can't get the new video to embed, you can watch another one about the Up! here.

So, what's the content here? Nothing that we haven't seen before, really. It's a minute with the Up!, and not a bad introduction. Webcastr captions the video "This people's car is targeted more at emerging markets." I'm not sure where they get that idea. Csaba Csere, Car and Driver's editor-in-chief, says at the end of the video that a production Up! would probably be headed to the U.S.

Related:

• LA 2007: Schwarzenegger checks out the VW up! space blue
• LA 2007: Volkswagen Space up! Blue

[Source: Webcastr]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly likes to look green when new cars are displayed. I remember the excitement when he arrived at the unveiling of the Tesla Roadster back in the summer of 2006. Sometimes, of course, the Governator's green sheen is less glorious, like with the GM flex-fuel vehicles controversy. But, at the LA Auto Show this week, Governor Schwarzenegger was happy to visit the Volkswagen booth to check out the new space up! blue concept car.

Also at the VW booth, Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volkswagen of America, Inc., discussed more about what VW plans to do with clean diesels in the U.S. in the near future. As AutoblogGreen readers probably know, VW will bring clean diesel TDI engines to all 50 states, starting with the Jetta Sedan and Jetta SportWagen. The release date for the Jetta TDI was recently pushed back to summer 2008.



[Source: Volkswagen]

Click the space up! blue for a high-res gallery

Revision 3 of the Volkswagen up! concept family makes it debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show today. Taking the larger four-door version that bowed in Tokyo last month as starting point, the space up! blue adds the first implementation of a high temperature fuel cell to the mix. Propulsion energy for the electric motor comes from an array of lithium ion batteries that can yield a range of up to 65 miles on a full charge. In the same manner as the Ford Airstream concept, the batteries can be recharged either via a plug or the fuel cell stack. Volkswagen's high temperature fuel cell stack is claimed to be less expensive to produce than other designs while offering greater efficiency. In the case of this concept, the combined range of the fuel cell and battery system is 220 miles and more energy can be added via the roof top solar panel.

[Source: Volkswagen]

The Volkswagen up! concept car (whether in the original or the space or the possible fuel cell variant) is popular not only with AutoblogGreen readers who wouldn't mind buying one (or two) from VW but also with people in the industry. Last night, the up! won the Concept Car of the Year honor at the Autocar Awards. According to the Newspress release, Autocar editor Charles Hallett said the up! was "a brilliant concept car – but, importantly, a concept car that will become a reality. We like to think of it as a 21st Century Beetle – a stylish car that will provide affordable motoring for all, both here and in the developing world." Whatever the third variant is, we'll be seeing it later this week from the LA Auto Show.

[Source: Newspress]

We often bring you interesting motorcycle-related news because motorcycles, with their (usually) smaller-sized engines, often get much better fuel mileage than cars. Yamaha is no stranger to making great motorcycle engines, and they even have a history of developing and producing engines for cars. See the Taurus SHO for proof of that as well as the current V8-powered Volvo models. We hear that Toyota and Yamaha have teamed up to develop a two cylinder 1000cc engine for Toyota's planned microcar, the iQ. A concept version of the car was recently shown which features an odd 3+1 seating arrangement.

Volkswagen also has plans to produce a microcar called the Up! In VW's design, the engine is mounted at the rear of the car, while Toyota is expected to mount the motorcycle-derived engine at the front. Motorcycles usually employ "unit" construction, meaning that the engine block and transmission cases are cast as a single piece. This design can reduce the size of the drivetrain, making perfect sense for a microcar.

[Source: Automotive News (sub. required)]

We found out earlier today that the Volkswagen Up! will be more expensive than originally reported. We have known since the Up! was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show that it would not only come in plug-in (at least in concept form) and hybrid versions, but also might one day come in a full range of body styles: compact SUV, five-door minivan and convertible. Christian Schlute, who prepares a lot of photorealistic renderings of upcoming vehicles, has created three renderings of these three body types, and you can see them over at eGMCarTech. Official VW images are available in the gallery below.

[Source: eGMCarTech, thanks to Omar]

Click the up! for a high-res gallery

The Volkswagen up! which was shown off as concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week will almost certainly go into production in a couple of years. Selling the up! in European and Asian markets like China and India would probably be a given. The big question is whether we will see a production car based on the up! in the US market. Adrian Hallmark of Volkswagen of America told Automotive News that the US arm has told the home office that they are interested in a production version of the up!

They want a car to slot in below the Jetta and Rabbit that would be true to the heritage of Volkswagen. If such a car does come to the US it almost certainly won't be built in Germany due to low US dollar. Volkswagen will surely be watching the success of the Smart ForTwo after it launches early next year. If the Smart sells well, VW will probably move ahead with a US version of the up!

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]