VW Twin Up Hybrid Concept does 257mpg - debuts at LA & Tokyo

The VW Twin Up Concept – a hybrid version of the VW Up city car, will debut at the Los Angeles and Tokyo Motor Shows this month.

Teh VW Up! is getting the hybrid powertrain from the XL !

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The VW Twin Up is a concept Up! from VW featuring a hybrid powertrain and heading for both the Los Angeles and Tokyo Motor Shows later this month. And it could be heading in to production.

It seems Volkswagen has taken the super-frugal diesel-electric hybrid powertrain from the VW XL 1, given it a tweak or three and planted it under the skin of the Up!

VW has increased the power of the electric motor to cope with the additional weight of the Up! (a chunk more than the XL 1 – even before the batteries and motor are added), added more lithium-ion batteries to feed the bigger motor and increased the size of the XL 1’s paltry fuel tank.

The culmination of the tweaks and the transplanted powertrain is that the Twin Up! Hybrid will do 257mpg, has emissions of 27g/km and can manage to do 30 miles on electric power only.

That makes the Twin Up! a much more practical car than the Up! EV which launched at Frankfurt in September, but it does seem like overkill to have both electric and hybrid versions of the Up! on offer for city drivers.

There surely can’t be that many willing to pay through the nose (£20k plus) for an electric or hybrid Up when a basic ICE Up costs well under £10k?