VW’s ‘Chinese Tiny Car’ – 258mpg – $600US
‘TWIMBYs’ – Turbines Wanted In My Backyard
October 31, 2012Other Grey Nomads Travelling North?
November 6, 2012An email received yesterday tells me that next year China will launch a tiny’ single seater car that does 258 miles to the gallon and will cost 4000 Yuan – $600 US. Produced by Volkswagen, the initial objective was to prove that 1 litre of fuel could deliver 100 kilos of travel.
Some Details
Gas tank capacity = 1.7 gallons
Speed = 62 – 74.6 Miles/hour
Fuel efficiency = 258 miles/gallon
Travel distance with a full tank = 404 miles
Spartan Presentation But SAFE!
The body is 3.47 metres long, 1.25 metres wide and a little over a metre high. The prototype was made completely of carbon fibre and is not painted to save weight.
The impact and roll-over protection is comparable to GT racing cars.
A One Cylinder Diesel
The power plant is a one cylinder diesel positioned ahead of the rear axle. There is ‘an automatic shift controlled by a knob in the interior’.
From conception to production it has taken 3 years to this point.
How does this compare with the electric car?
4 Comments
A wonderful development, especially as most cars in Australia often have only one person.
Yes, I would like to buy one. When would it be available in Australia?
PS Ford and GM-holden are sacking workers – not enough demand for big inefficient cars. Why do the not build a car like these?
Any car which is smaller and less powerful than a car having a 1.2 Litre engine and significantly smaller than cars such as Hyundai Getz, will never be acceptable to most Australians. They would be considered ‘daggy’ Most people in Australia can afford to pay heaps more than a couple of thousand dollars, for a car. Human decision making is based upon far more issues than ‘saving the planet’, and low running costs. Very small, and very inexpensive electric cars have been available in China for the last few years, but to my knowledge there are none sold in this country. The fact that the safety standards here make them illegal on the roads , is only 1 of the reasons we don’t see them sold to Australians. The most likely reason why Ford cannot sell their cars is because we are in a very serious economic recession, and there is enormous competition from far too many car makers. I anticipate a huge
‘shake up’ in the automotive industries around the world in the next 5 to 10 years. In Australia we are living in a fools paradise. Wages and charges are totally out of step with the rest of the world.
I for one would buy one like a shot. I commute about 15kms to work (and car sharing on my run is quite difficult). I’m now widowed, so on my own, and what I would save in running a bigger car I can use on taxis when I need to. And I think there would be a lot of single people like me who would see the day-to-day benefits.
What a great idea! Of course it won’t suit everyone and perhaps only a small fraction of the Australian population, but isn’t all our shopping a matter of choice?
I think Holden or Ford, both of which are struggling in Australia, may get a shock and a shake-up if the VW Tiny Car were imported to our market. And the inbuilt impact and rollover safety design would probably pass Australian standards too.