Volkswagen up! opens new doors

The Volkswagen up!, originally launched as a two-door only, has achieved strong market success in Germany. It’s little surprise then that a four-door up! will be launched in May.

Volkswagen expects the four-door will represent over half of future sales for the up!. They’ll probably also be quite happy with reports suggesting the MINI Rocketman has been cancelled.

The four-door up! range will consist of the same modest and frugal engines from the two-door. Details from VW below.

UPDATE: The up!, in both two and four-door bodystyles, should be on sale in Australia by the end of the year.

The New Small Family is growing: four-door up! arrives on market early this year

• Price is only 475 euros higher than that of the two-door

Wolfsburg, 23 January 2012 – All signs point to a big future for the small up!. In Germany, the two-door city specialist immediately garnered first place in its class in registration statistics. Now Volkswagen is raising the bar by presenting the four-door version of the up!. In May, the latest member of the New Small Family – Volkswagen’s internal name for the model series – will arrive at dealers; advanced sales begin on the 6th of March (both dates for Germany). The four-door car will have launched on the entire European market by early summer.

Volkswagen anticipates that over half of all up! buyers will choose the four-door version. This version has identical engines (44 kW / 60 PS and 55 kW / 75 PS), equipment versions (take up!, move up!, high up!, black up!, white up!) and dimensions as the two-door cars. The four-door up! will be available in Germany at prices from 10,325 euros, including ESP – compared to the two-door, this represents an additional price of just 475 euros.

Lots of doors, and lots behind them!

With four doors, the look of the car’s side profile has changed. While the lower window line of the two-door rises towards the rear near the C-pillars, it forms a straight line on the four-door car. This gives the new body version a high level of independence. The crisp and short body overhangs are also distinctive on the four-door. The front and rear sections are identical in both body versions. This also means that buyers of the four-door version will get to enjoy a bootlid whose outer skin consists of a continuous glass surface; this gives the bootlid the high-tech and high-end look of a smartphone. Located behind the bootlid is a boot with a 251 litre cargo capacity, which can be extended to up to 951 litres by folding down the rear backrest.

Comfortable driving with four persons!

The rear doors open wide and offer comfortable entry. The four-seat, four-door car offers the same good interior spaciousness as the two-door, which is remarkable given the vehicle’s size. Headroom in the rear is 947 mm, while it is 993 mm in front. Legroom in the second row is a comfortable 789 mm. The seat height in the rear has a pleasant effect: the height of the so-called H-point – the relevant vertex of the angle formed by the seat surface and the backrest – is 378 mm in the rear, which is higher than in front (306 mm). This higher seat position lets rear passengers see better over the shoulders of the driver and front passenger. Just as important: there is plenty of space under the front seats for the feet of the rear passengers.

Ingenious systems for greater safety and convenience!

Volkswagen is offering the same optional features in both the two-door and four-door up!. They include systems such as 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. Also available upon request is maps+more – a portable navigation and infotainment system with touchscreen. It contains a navigation system, a hands-free telephone unit, an informational display of various vehicle parameters and a media player. In addition, apps can be used to customise maps+more to personal requirements. With these features, the up! – as a two-door and four-door car – is clearly one of the most advanced small cars on the market.