Volkswagen EcoRacer, when diesel was the future
Twenty years ago, Volkswagen presented a prototype sports car with a diesel engine, outrageous performance, and surprisingly low fuel consumption, which the brand never dared to mass-produce.
Just twenty years ago, coinciding with the Tokyo Motor Show, Volkswagen presented the expensive concept or EcoRacer prototype, a type vehicle roadster –a convertible, rear-wheel drive, and with compact dimensions and weight—which the brand came very close to putting into production. In fact, it's not surprising that at that time mainstream brands were introducing small, sporty, convertible models. Opel manufactured a similar vehicle called the Speedster, Mazda the famous MX-5, and Seat dreamed of models like the Bolero or TangoBut what truly set the Volkswagen prototype apart was its engine, a rarity that would have made it a unicorn in the automotive world.
The Volkswagen EcoRacer was powered by a 1.5 TDI four-cylinder diesel engine producing 136 hp. This fact, which seems utterly absurd to us now, made sense twenty years ago, when diesel appeared to be establishing itself as the fuel of the future and major European manufacturers were boasting in America and Japan about the efficiency of their diesel engines. Even European governments were incentivizing the purchase of diesel vehicles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and demonstrate their commitment to cutting polluting emissions.
The EcoRacer was a truly efficient car. Thanks to its very lightweight body, which made extensive use of materials like fiberglass and aluminum, and dimensions of just 3.7 meters in length, it could boast a homologated weight of only 850 kg and fuel consumption of just 100 kg/km. All this with an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 230 km/h. A light, fast, and fuel-efficient vehicle that would have caused a real earthquake in the market. roadsters or lightweight two-seater convertibles.
Ultimately, Volkswagen decided not to mass-produce the EcoRacer, despite the positive reception from both critics and the general public. The cost of manufacturing this roadster With a diesel engine, the price would have been high despite sharing some components with the Golf and Passat of its time. The final price of the sports car, therefore, would necessarily have been expensive, and the Volkswagen Group's top management saw it as a potential competitor to the Audi TT and somewhat out of step with the rest of the Wolfsburg range, which at that time was heavily invested in the high-performance GTI models of the Golf and Polo, more affordable vehicles.
Interestingly, Volkswagen engineers never completely forgot about this model, as it served as the basis for another model, called the XL1, which the German brand did eventually produce. The Volkswagen XL1 was a small sports car with a two-cylinder diesel engine paired with a 20 kW electric motor and a 5 kWh battery, which the brand marketed in 2014. The company manufactured around 200 units, which sold for €110,000. roadster Its futuristic design has become a prized object for collectors.