This 'tiny'could be the city car of the future

The other ultra-compact car I promised you from the frankfurt show is another concept(no prizes for guessing the colour of this green car!): the Volkswagen up! Measuring just 3.45m it is only a staggering 47cm longer than the other contender for car of the show, the Toyota iQ, covered in yesterday's post. This two- or three-cylinder rear engined highly efficient car should yield 70 mpg and will help to meet the growing European demand (up 20% on last year according to Toyota) for small cars.VW are hopeful that, when the up! goes into production in 2009, it will claim in due course the same iconic status as the Beetle or the Golf.

With cabin space seating four adults, the up! concept has a touch sensitive screen which will enable the driver to access through hand movements certain information on the weather,in-car entertainment and vehicle controls.A second head-up screen will provide critical information on the cars's systems together with instant read-outs of CO2 levels being emiited. VW are looking for this car to be around for a long time.

So with Fiat also unveiling a radical two-cylinder 900cc engine which will only emit an amazing 69g of CO2 emissions, the leading carmakers are taking very seriously the
challenge to meet regulations and a market which consider level of CO2 emissions to be as important as fuel consumption.So the big sellers of the future will be small.

We will continue to watch these imminent products or similar.Over the next week or so, it will be back to production cars and some news on motorsport.