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VOLKSWAGEN up! Models/Series Timeline, Specifications & Photos

Generations: 4
First production year: 2012
Engines: Gasoline, Natural gas
Body style: Hatchback
VOLKSWAGEN up! 3 doors photo gallery

Volkswagen introduced a restyled up! at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and showed an extensive personalization program that could make any car almost tailor-made.

The German styling culture was almost every time based on the form follows function theme, and so was the up! While the Italians sacrificed some features and knee room or headroom for the design's sake, Germans never did that. The French were somewhere in the middle road. Back to the up!

With a look that could conquer the hearts of a geometry lover, the up! showed a new front fascia with LED daytime running lights. The grille was just a thin line between the hood's edge and the wrapped-around plastic bumper. An additional cooling area found its place under the license plate area, flanked by a pair of optional fog lights. In the three-door version, the up! Provided access through its wide doors. The greenhouse looked like a cube with a raked windshield at the front and a vertical drop at the back. Thanks to the wheels pushed to the corners, the up! looked prepared for small parking spaces and mall parking lots.

Inside, there was a new dashboard design, which was available in six different colors. On the center stack, the carmaker relied on customers' smartphones for pretty much everything, from music player to navigation. A special cradle sat on top of the vehicle's radio. In front of the driver, Volkswagen mounted a rounded-shaped instrument cluster. For seating, the carmaker confirmed that it was, in the best-case scenario, a four-seat vehicle. It offered enough legroom and headroom on the two-seat bench.

Under the hood, Volkswagen installed an inline-three, either naturally aspirated or turbocharged.

full description and technical specifications
VOLKSWAGEN up! 5 doors photo gallery

In 2016, Volkswagen brought the up!'s facelifted version at the Geneva Motor Show and promised its customers that they could tailor their cars to fit their needs.

Available with a three- or five-door bodywork, the up! supermini vehicle was the smallest Volkswagen on sale. It shared its platform with Seat mii and Skoda CitiGo, but it kept its visual brand identity. That was to keep the form-follow-function discipline that helped the German automaker sell practical vehicles, but without some special appeal. Such as the up!

With a look that could conquer the hearts of a geometry lover, the up! showed a new front fascia with LED daytime running lights. The grille was just a thin line between the hood's edge and the wrapped-around plastic bumper. An additional cooling area found its place under the license plate area, flanked by a pair of optional fog lights. With the five-door version, the automaker added more practicality to the vehicle, helping customers who needed easy-to-access rear seats for children or adults. The greenhouse looked like a cube with a raked windshield at the front and a vertical drop at the back. Thanks to the wheels pushed to the corners, the up! looked prepared for small parking spaces and mall parking lots.

Inside, there was a new dashboard design, which was available in six different colors. On the center stack, the carmaker relied on customers' smartphones for pretty much everything, from a music player to navigation. A special cradle sat on top of the vehicle's radio. In front of the driver, Volkswagen mounted a rounded-shaped instrument cluster. For seating, the carmaker confirmed that it was, in the best-case scenario, a four-seat vehicle. It offered enough legroom and headroom on the two-seat bench.

Under the hood, Volkswagen installed an inline-three, naturally aspirated or turbocharged.

full description and technical specifications
VOLKSWAGEN up! 3 doors photo gallery

That was the smallest Volkswagen in its lineup. It was built for ease of use inside towns and it was intended to decrease the average fuel consumption of the manufacturer's lineup.

The up! was the car built around practicality. It was the quintessence of the form follow function design. When it was launched in 2012 it took everyone by surprise with the fuel-efficiency and interior space.

Despite being a Volkswagen, the exterior look doesn't resemble any other vehicle from the lineup. No special grille or headlights would remind of anything else. Just a box with a hood in the front and a vertical liftgate in the rear. The 3-door version featured plenty of room for adults in the rear, with enough leg- and headroom.

The dashboard was plain and simple, but it had some versions with a removable navigation system that was plugged into a special cradle on top of the center console. Here, some buttons and knobs were taken from its bigger brother Golf or Polo.

Under the hood, there was a three-cylinder engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. It was built to be affordable and with a very low cost of ownership. As a first in the industry, the up! Offered City Emergency Braking, which automatically braked the car at speeds between 5 and 30 kph (3 and 18.6 mph).

REVIEW: VOLKSWAGEN UP!   full description and technical specifications
VOLKSWAGEN up! 5 doors photo gallery

Volkswagen introduced the up! lineup as a solution for crowded cities and tiny parking spaces, and made the vehicle available in either a three- or a five-door bodywork.

Designed as a practical city vehicle, the up! made its way into a segment dominated by French and Italian automakers. While it didn't excel in terms of design, it was a statement of the form-follow-function design. In addition, thanks to its fuel-efficient engines, it was a budget-friendly vehicle.

Even though the up! Replaced the Lupo lineup, the automaker decided to make it in a five-door version to make it more practical for those who had to do regular school runs. From the design point of view, the car didn't resemble any other Volkswagen on the market. It was just a box with a hood at the front and a pair of lights, a short cabin with darkened B-pillars, and a vertical drop at the back for the tailgate.

Inside, the car provided enough room for four adults. Thanks to this version, the up! Became very attractive for those who needed the rear seats on a daily basis. For the front occupants, Volkswagen installed power windows and an AC unit, while those seated in the back had to deal with the pop-out windows system installed on the rear doors. A removable navigation system was available as an option, and it could have been mounted on a special cradle on top of the center stack.

Under the hood, there was a three-cylinder engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. It was built to be affordable and with a very low cost of ownership. As a first in the industry, the up! Offered City Emergency Braking, which automatically stopped the car at speeds between 5 and 30 kph (3 and 19 mph).

full description and technical specifications