Volkswagen to Show Production-Ready 1 l/100km Car

Volkswagen hasn't abandoned the idea of building an extremely fuel-efficient vehicle and will present next week at the Qatar Motor Show what some are considering a production ready 1 l/100km car. A report rolled out by wiwo.de claims the vehicle to be revealed in Qatar has high chances of entering production in the near future and, if anything goes as planned, expect to see the final model on the street around 2013.

As it happens with concepts, only a few things are known before their official debut but, if there's some truth behind this report, the Qatar prototype will most likely be an improved iteration of the L1 shown in Frankfurt in September 2009.

The L1 concept unveiled in Germany used a 0.8-liter TDI engine that achieved a fuel consumption rating of 1.38 l/100km (that's about 170 mpg). The 800 cc TDI unit develops a power of 20 kW / 27 PS (at 4,000 rpm) while in sport mode the maximum output rises to 29 kW / 39 PS (at 4,000 rpm). The maximum torque is 100 Nm at 1,900 rpm.

This time, things are pretty much the same but some new things have also make it to the equation. It seems like the final vehicle will actually be a hybrid, so the TDI engine could also be backed by an electric motor that would also bring its very own contribution to the final efficiency figures. In addition, the German carmaker is believed to prepare a significant weight-cutting programme, so carbon fiber and other lightweight materials are very likely to be used on the new concept as well.