NAIAS is the first auto show of the year and for sure it attracts a lot of car manufacturers. 2010 comes with no surprises anymore as it continues the trend imposed last year, when most of the manufacturers presented electric vehicles and hybrid or plug-in hybrids. It seems fuel consumption and emissions are the most important factors to deal with at the moment.
Volkswagen didn’t want to stay behind and came to North America with its New Compact Coupe (NCC) hybrid concept. This Coupe is positioned in the class between Scirocco and the CC and will probably be the coupe for the Golf VI. The hybrid engine offers a combined fuel consumption of 4.2 L/100 km (45 mpg) and has CO2 emissions of 98 g/km. Top speed goes to 227 km/h (141 mph) and within 8.6 seconds it accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h.
The Coupe has a 4 cylinder gasoline TSI engine(of just 1.4 liters) that is able to develop 150 PS and an electric motor with 27 PS, a 7-speed Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) and a 1.1 kWh Li-ion battery. The torque of the gasoline engine is 240 N·m (177 lb-ft). The electric engine is integrated between the TSI engine and the 7-speed DSG transmission. The electric engine can be used independently but it can work as well together with the gasoline engine boosting its power.
The kinetic energy developed during braking is recovered and stored in the lithium-ion battery. Besides all these improvements, the Coupe also has a Stop-Start system on board to further reduce fuel consumption. The first market release of a hybrid VW car in US will be a SUV that will have full-time 4 wheel drive.
