Photo: Vauxford / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Credit links at the end of the content)
While our website mainly focuses on classic F1 cars, fascinating stories from the past, and classic prototype cars, we also like to highlight unusual and interesting vehicles that many people may not know much about, such as the Volkswagen XL1.
There are plenty of cars that were designed to be fast, luxurious, powerful or exciting, the Volkswagen was designed for something completely different, the car was created around one extraordinary target, to build a production car capable of using roughly one liter of fuel to travel 100 kilometers.
That goal sounds almost impossible for a road car, especially one using a diesel engine, yet Volkswagen managed to turn the idea into reality with the VW XL1, one of the strangest and most technically ambitious production cars of the modern era.
That goal sounds almost impossible for a conventional road car, especially one using a diesel engine. Yet Volkswagen managed to turn the idea into reality with the XL1, one of the strangest and most technically ambitious production cars of the modern era.
The Volkswagen XL1 Started With an Ambitious Idea
The story of the VW XL1 goes back much further than the production car that appeared in 2013, VW had spent years exploring the idea of an extremely efficient car, with the long-term goal of creating a car capable of traveling 100 km using only one liter of fuel, the project evolved through several experimental vehicles before eventually becoming the XL1
The challenge was obvious, making a car economical isn’t simply a matter of installing a small engine, the car itself has to be light, aerodynamic and efficient, while the drivetrain must waste as little energy as possible, Volkswagen therefore approached the XL1 almost like a technological demonstration rather than a conventional mass-market automobile!
A Tiny Diesel Engine With Electric Assistance
At the heart of the Volkswagen XL1 is a remarkably small 0.8-liter two-cylinder TDI diesel, on its own, the diesel produces roughly 47 horsepower, but it is paired with an electric motor producing around 27 horsepower, together, the system produces approximately 68 to 70 horsepower, depending on how the figures are presented.
Those numbers might sound unpressive today, but the XL1 was never designed to win a horsepower contest, its philosophy was almost the opposite, instead of making the engine more powerful, VV concentrated on making the entire vehicle require as little power as possible.
The diesel engine works together with the electric motor and a 5.5 kWh lithium-ion battery, under suitable conditions, the car can travel around 50 km using electric power alone. And a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission transfers the power to the wheels!
The XL1 Was Extremely Light
One of the biggest secrets behind the VW XL1’s efficiency was its weight, the car weighs approximately 795 kilograms, which is remarkably low for a modern vehicle equipped with a hybrid drivetrain, battery and the safety equipment expected of a road car.
Volkswagen achieved this by using carbon-fiber-reinforced poolymer, commonly known as CFRP, for much of the vehicle’s structure and body, this wasn’t an inxpensive material, CFRP is more commonly associated with exotic sports cars, racing cars and high-end supercars than with economical commuter vehicles.
But for the XL1, saving weight was considered worth the enormous engineering effort, the lightweight construction extended beyond the main body, Volkswagen used advanced materials and lightweight components in other areas of the car as well, including magnesium wheels and other specially developed components.
Aerodynamics Were Just as Important as the Engine
The XL1 looks unusual because its shape was dictated by physics rather than fashion, its body as an extremely low, smooth profile, designed to allow air to pass around the vehicle with minimal resistance, Volkwagen achieved a drag coefficient of approximately 0.189, an extraordinary figure for a road-going automobile, this is one of the reasons the XL doesn’t resemble a traditional hatchback or sedan.
The rear wheels are partially enclosed by the bodywork, while the rear of the vehicle tapers dramatically, the overall shape resembles a teardrop, an aerodynamic form that has long been attractive to engineers trying to minimize drag, at higher speeds, aerodynamic resistance becomes increasingly important, a car with poor aero needs considerably more energy to push through the air, the XL1 instead attempted to make the air itself almost irrelevant.
Even the Doors and Seating Were Different
The unusual engineering continued inside the cabin, the Volkswagen XL1 uses butterfly-style doors, giving it an exotic appearance more commonly associated with supercars.
The seating arrangement is also unusual, rather than placing the driver and passenger directly side by side in the conventional arrangement, the passenger seat is positioned slightly behind the driver, this allowed Volkswagen to keep the body exceptionally narrow while still accomodating two occupants.
Inside, the philosophy was once again about efficiency, the XL1 wasn’t designed to surround its occupants with unnecessary weight, some components were deliberately simplified, including manually operated window mechanicsms rather than heavy electric systems, details that would normally be considered minor were treated as part of the larger engineering equation.
Only 250 Volkswagen XL1s Were Built
The biggest reason the XL1 has become so fascinating to collectors is its rarity, Volkswagen produced only 250 examples between 2013 and 2016.
Approximately 200 were made available to customers, while the remaining examples were retained by Volkswagen for corporate, research and other purposes, that production numbers puts the XL1 in a very unusual category, it was technically a production automobile, but it was never intended to become a common sight on European roads.
Other story: Fastest Electric Cars in the World in 2024
Why Was the Volkswagen XL1 So Expensive?
The original price was around €111,00, at first glance, the price seems almost contradictory, how could an ultra-efficient economy-focused car cost more than many luxury vehicles, the answer is that the XL1 was economical to operate, but it wasn’t economical to manufacture.
The car required carbon-fiber construction, specialized components, extensive engineering work and extremely limited production, it was essentially a technological showcase that happened to be legal to drive on public roads, the development costs were spread across only a tiny number of vehicles, that makes each individual example incredibly expensive from an engineering and manufacturing perspective.
But the project was never designed around conventional mass-production economics, Volkswagen was demonstrating what its engineers could accomplish when fuel efficiency became the primary objective.
The 313 MPG Figure Needs Some Context
The famous fuel-consumption figure associated with the XL1 is around 313 mpg, or approximately one liter per 100 kilometers, however, this figure needs context because the XL1 is a plug-in hybrid.
Official test-cycle fuel consumption for a plug-in hybrid can be dramatically influenced by how much of the journey is completed using battery power, if the battery begins fully charged, the car can use electric energy for part of the journey before the diesel engine becomes more important, that doesn’t make the figure meaningless, it simply means it shouldn’t be interpreted as the car continuously burning only one liter of diesel every 100 kilometers under every real-world driving condition.
A Car That Was Never Meant to Become Normal
Perhaps the most interesting things about the Volkswagen XL1 is that they actually built it, many manufacturers create futuristic concepts that never leave the auto show floor, the XL1 crossed that boundary, customers could actually buy one.
They could open its unusual doors, sit inside its narrow cabin and drive a carbon-fiber Volkswagen on public roads, that makes the XL1 considerably more significant than a styling concept, at the same time, its tiny production runs shows why it never became a mainstream product.
The automotive industry ultimately has to balance engineering ambition with manufacturing costs, customer expectations and practicality, the XL1 pushed almost every one of those limits, it was incredibly efficient, but expensive, it was lightweight, but specialized, it was technologically advanced, but difficult to produce at scale!
FEATURED IMAGE CREDITS: Vauxford / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
