That was the smallest Volkswagen in its lineup.
It was built for ease of use inside towns and it was intended to decrease the average fuel consumption of the manufacturer’s lineup.

The up! was the car built around practicality. It was the quintessence of the form follow function design. When it was launched in 2012 it took everyone by surprise with the fuel-efficiency and interior space.

Despite being a Volkswagen, the exterior look doesn’t resemble any other vehicle from the lineup. No special grille or headlights would remind of anything else. Just a box with a hood in the front and a vertical liftgate in the rear. The 3-door version featured plenty of room for adults in the rear, with enough leg- and headroom.

The dashboard was plain and simple, but it had some versions with a removable navigation system that was plugged into a special cradle on top of the center console. Here, some buttons and knobs were taken from its bigger brother Golf or Polo.

Under the hood, there was a three-cylinder engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. It was built to be affordable and with a very low cost of ownership. As a first in the industry, the up! Offered City Emergency Braking, which automatically braked the car at speeds between 5 and 30 kph (3 and 18.6 mph).