| Concept Car Review | LA Auto Show 2007 | VW Space Up! Blue |

Blue is the new green it seems, and that's the title applied to VW's third Up! concept car. In fairness, the new Space Up! Blue closely resembles the Space Up! shown at last month's Tokyo Motor Show.

The most obvious difference is a higher roof with glass skylights disguising the extra height. In fact, that new roof incorporates a bank of solar panels that help to charge the car's batch of lithium-ion batteries. Those batteries allow a range of 65 miles, enable the concept to hit 62mph from rest in 13.7 seconds and endow it with a top speed of 75mph. That's acceptable performance for a city car, and don't be put off by the limited range on battery power, as this concept also features an advanced new fuel cell.

At the heart of the new propulsion system is a high-temperature fuel cell that emits just water. Until recently, fuel cells were of the low-temperature variety, requiring expensive, bulky systems to keep at their optimum operating conditions. This new system purports to be a step closer to reality, though we don't have a lot of details about the system as yet other than it helps give the Blue concept a total range of about 220 miles.

Even with all this technology on board, the concept manages to seat four and accommodate 220 litres of luggage. VW has committed to putting a family of city cars in the vein of the Up! into production before the end of the decade, so don't expect this to be the final concept version.

Shane O' Donoghue - 14 Nov 2007