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Volkswagen up! City Car’s Future Uncertain In Europe, e-up! Is Safe For Now

Replacing the Volkswagen Fox, the up! slots at the lowest point in the German automaker’s lineup. The city car is now in its sixth year of production, and as the segment keeps on contracting in Europe, Volkswagen is thinking about the possibility of discontinuing the up! just like Skoda prepares to boot the Citigo.
Volkswagen up! city car 16 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
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The automaker’s head honcho, Herbert Diess, had a chat with Autocar on the sidelines of the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. From the talk, it is apparent the up! isn’t too popular with Volkswagen’s higher-ups and beancounters. “We still see a future for that segment, but we have to weigh up how much profit contribution and positive CO2 effects we get from [the up!],” he declared.

Looking at the sales figures for the A-segment model in the Old Continent, it’s obvious Diess isn’t happy with how the cookie crumbles. From a high of 130,039 examples sold in 2013, the up! moved 96,836 units in 2016. The Citigo and Mii also find themselves on the downward spiral, which is hurting the Volkswagen Group from not one, not two, but three directions.

“On small cars, it’s very hard to bring [their emissions] below 93 or 95 grams without adding a lot of cost. It becomes complicated. The electric up! makes much more sense,” added Diess. This or up the pricing of the ICE-powered up!, that is. The Volkswagen official doesn’t see the end of production coming anytime soon, chiefly because city cars are increasingly popular in emerging markets. Think the likes of India, places where small-sided cars are in demand.

SEAT is already gearing up to electrify the Mii and to introduce a second all-electric model by decade’s end. Skoda, meanwhile, also prepares to electrify its lineup, whereas Volkswagen announced that it had committed billions of euros for this purpose. With market dynamics heading toward an obvious direction, as well as the group’s fallout with diesel technology, electric is the way to go, and the e-up! appears to be the best case scenario for VW.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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