2012 Volkswagen Up exterior

The German auto giant, Volkswagen is keen on tapping the small car segment market the world over in an effort to achieve its goal, to become the world’s largest car maker by 2020. To tap the small car market, the wild card Volkswagen wishes to play is the Up!. The Up! is Volkswagen’s trumph card and the company is pitching it very strategically across the continents to get the maximum volumes. The Up! will make great sense in the growing Indian market and Volkswagen has indeed confirmed its plans on launching the car in the Indian market. Sadly though it seems it may not happen this year since the auto maker didn’t showcase it at the 2012 Auto Expo albeit much speculations about it coming to the event. However, we are keeping up to date with the development of the Up! in the other countries. Last week we brought you news about the 5 door version of the Up! and this time we continue with more details about it.

First of all, with 4 doors, the overall side look of the car profile is straight-ish compared to its sibling, the 2 door version which has the belt-line rising towards the rear near the C pillars. The bootlid features something similar to the Brio: an all glass lid. Coupled with its smartly designed tail lamps, it resembles some hi-tech smartphone from the back. The bootlid has a capacity of 251 litres, extendable up to 951 litres by folding the back seats. The car also features something unique: City Emergency Braking. The up! is the first car in its class that can be automatically braked by such a function in a tight situation, in this case over a speed range from 5 to 30 km/h.

In its home continent Europe, Volkswagen will be launching the 5 door version of the Up! by early summer 2012. Volkswagen also anticipates that more than half of the buyers who will choose the Up! will chose the 5 door version compared to the 2 door version. The 2 door version has already been launched has coincidentally gained lot of interest among the consumers. The Up! 4 door will be available in Germany at a starting price of 10,325 Euros.

2012 Volkswagen Up cars

2012 Volkswagen Up side

2012 Volkswagen Up doors open