Whilst it may not look at all conventional, the Volkswagen XL1 is currently ranked as the world’s most fuel-efficient hybrid car. It has been named the winner of the Transport category in the annual Designs of the Year Awards for 2014.
Commenting on the category winners, Curator of Designs of the Year Gemma Curtin said: “From the daringly innovative to the reassuringly good, Designs of the Year 2014 is a condensed and vivid selection of the last twelve months in design. This spectrum of expert-chosen design is an insight into what design can do for us both as individuals and as a society.”
Penned by a team led by Klaus Bischoff, Head of Design for the Volkswagen brand, the XL1 is a limited series production two-seater car that explores the limits of energy efficiency for a road-legal production vehicle. It was nominated for the exhibition by author and automotive design and technology expert, Andrew Nahum.
The design brief for the XL1 was to produce a ‘one litre’ car – that is to say, a car that uses one litre of fuel per 100 km, equivalent to 282 miles per gallon. The resulting vehicle uses just 0.9 litres per 100 km, or 313 mpg, and this high mpg figure correlates to a very low carbon dioxide emissions value of just 21 g/km.
For more details on the XL1, please visit www.volkswagen.co.uk. To find out more about the Designs of the Year exhibition and to purchase tickets, go to www.designmuseum.org.
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