The popular supermini is set to cease production later this year.
The popular supermini is set to cease production later this year.
Volkswagen has confirmed it will cease production before the end of 2023 of its award-winning and much-loved supermini, the up!. Now, I know there will be a hugely sensible business argument to justify the car’s demise, but its timing seems strange when, around the world — and certainly across Europe and the UK — running a supermini has never made more sense.
Of course, already this year we’ve seen Ford end production of its iconic Fiesta. And given that many of the up!’s original competitors, including the Toyota Aygo, Citroën C1 and Peugeot 108 – as well as the Škoda Citigo and SEAT Mii, both of which were similar boxy city cars built by the Volkswagen Group – have also been retired, I guess it was just a matter of time before a similar fate befell the baby Volkswagen.
The good news is that, though production will cease, there are a number of pre-configured cars already in dealer stock and available to buyers. Contact your local Arnold Clark Volkswagen dealership for details if you’re interested.
Plus, there’s always a terrific selection of excellent pre-owned up! models available on ArnoldClark.com. Last time I looked, there were 46 models available, ranging from entry-level models to the brilliant GTI.
The up! was introduced in 2011, and I remember attending the international launch in Rome where the supermini’s terrific combination of size, interior space, versatility and stylish good looks made it the perfect city car. And having lived with my own up! for more than three years, I have to admit I have a personal soft spot for the wee Volkswagen; for me it remains the perfect city runabout and was actually used more often than I had originally planned.
When it first went on sale in the UK, prices started at less than £8,000. By the time the order books closed, that price had risen to around £15,000. Until very recently it was offered in the UK in a choice of three- or five-door configurations, though the only engine available was a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol that produced 64bhp.
Of course, the one everyone aspired to was the sporty up! GTI, which always looked brilliant in red. It was powered by a 113bhp version of the same three-pot engine and was/is a hoot to drive.
And remember, Volkswagen introduced an all-electric up!, the e-up!. The name always made us journos laugh, as we referenced the Yorkshire colloquial greeting of ey-up. I know; simple things make us smile.
The Volkswagen e-up! was launched in 2013, well before the current craze for EVs, and swapped the petrol unit for an all-electric motor which produced 81bhp and 210Nm of torque. Powered by its 18.7kWh battery, it had a range of just 83 miles. But the pioneering EV was updated in 2020 when it was fitted with a larger 32.3kWh battery, almost doubling the range to 159 miles. In my mind, the e-up! is now the perfect city car.
So as the up! bows out, Volkswagen’s smallest car on sale is now the Polo supermini. How long that will remain on the market is uncertain as speculation surrounds its future.
So, what of Volkswagen’s small car future? The good news is it isn’t abandoning the sector completely, but you’ll probably need to wait till around 2025/26 before you can get your hands on the new pure electric ID.2, which will be the production version of the Volkswagen ID.2all concept which was unveiled in March.
