Volkswagen has unveiled the latest addition to its "New Small Family" series of ultra-compact city vehicles based on the first Volkswagen up! concept car that debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Since then we've seen numerous up! concept cars such as the up! Lite, the E-up! and the Space up!, and even before the production launch of the three-door up!, which hit showrooms last December, Volkswagen had already hinted a five-door model was in the works. Now the company has revealed that this new addition will be available in Germany from May, and the rest of Europe by mid-year.
The five-door up! will offer the same choice of 44 kW (60 hp) or 55 kW (75 hp) 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine offered for the three-door model. Despite the addition of two extra doors, the five-door model will also have the same dimensions as its three-door counterpart, resulting in 947 mm (37.3 in) of headroom in the rear, 993 mm (39.1 in) in the front, and second row legroom of 789 mm (31 in).
Volkswagen says the rear and front sections are also identical in both the three- and five-door versions, but the five-door model has a different side profile with the lower window line now forming a straight line instead of rising towards the rear as seen in the three-door model. Additionally, the outer skin of the bootlid on the five-door model is now a single slab of glass. While on the subject of the boot, the five-door model has a 251 liter (66.2 gal US) cargo capacity, which can be extended to up to 951 liters (251.2 gal US) by folding down the rear backrest.
Volkswagen anticipates that over half of all up! buyers will opt for the four-door model, which will be available in Germany starting at EUR10,325 (approx. US$13,450). Advance sales will begin in Germany on March 6, with the car set to arrive at dealers in May. The rest of Europe will follow with an early northern summer launch date.
