Up! In Arms

The Volkswagen Up! (or up!, without the capital U) is VW's all-new city car, a cute and clever subcompact with a lot of space and a decent ride. It's 139 inches long, about the same length as the Fiat 500, and its wheelbase is almost five inches longer (95.3 inches verse the Fiat's 90.6).  The Up! promises to be very miserly with gasoline thanks to its three-cylinder engine.    Scheduled to go on sale in Europe this coming spring, the Up! debuts at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor  Show, which opens September 15. 

Cute, huh? :-)

Now for the bad news - All though the Up! is designed to be adapted to U.S. regulations, Volkswagen says it has no plans to sell the car here, or in Canada, any time soon. :-O

I'm not very happy with the direction VW's North American division is taking with regards to product, and I'm not alone. The new Jetta attracted thousands of new customers but turned off many die-hard VW enthusiasts with its bland interior and soft handling, and while the new U.S.-made Passat is more of a real Volkswagen, it also has more in common with the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord than before. Volkswagen of America has teased its customers of the promise of adding the Polo or the third-generation Scirocco to its lineup the way Sarah Palin teases Tea Partiers with the promise of a presidential bid. In the end, though, Germany and the rest of Europe get all the interesting cars and we get only a few of them. Right now, we still have the Golf - made in Wolfsburg, not watered down like the Pennsylvania-built Rabbit had been, still excelling in ride, handling, and now build quality - and its GTI offshoot. But there have been rumors of how the next Golf will be available in GTI form only, or if it is available as a base car, it will be decontented and softened like the Jetta. Those rumors are probably false, but VW has done enough in America to give such rumors legitimacy.

Volkswagen is certain to remain in the U.S. market for a long time, and it will likely continue to sell many of its best models here; the 2012 Beetle looks to be as big a hit as the previous watercooled Beetle model. If it continues to deny American customers its most intriguing products, however, it will keep ticking off the die-hard enthusiasts that made VW's reputation in America in the first place and kept the brand alive during its darkest years in the U.S. by continuing to buy its products. The most we can expect from Volkswagen of America in the short term is some improvements to the Jetta and a continuation of the Golf in its purest European form, as well as a greater commitment to the second-generation watercooled Beetle. But dammit, I want that Up! over here, or at least the Polo. Enough teasing - VW's American fans deserve more than a watered-down Jetta sedan.

The latest word is that Volkswagen, noting American preferences for larger cars, doesn't plan to offer the Up! for sale in these United States until American automotive tastes change significantly. I can't think of a better reason to wish for an OPEC oil embargo (which is more likely than a federal gas tax increase) than the opportunity to buy this car.