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Volkswagen unveiled the production version of its XL1 two-seater car at the Geneva Motor Show recently. It’s a diesel-electric plug in hybrid vehicle that gets about 261mpg and an electric-only range of around 30 miles! While those numbers may end up slightly lower once the car goes through the US tests (the European test cycle turns in higher numbers typically), it’s still incredibly impressive.

Powered by a .9 liter two cylinder diesel engine, it’s not especially fast, even with the electric motor assist….0-62mph takes 12.7 seconds, for example. There’s no official word on price, though since it’s a low volume, largely hand-built production car, you can expect the price to be pretty high, probably pushing six figures. Definitely an ‘early adopter toy’, but also a good example of the future of automobiles.

Read more at AutoBlog and NPR.

Video review below:

With all the hype about hybrid vehicles these days, people tend to forget about efficient gas and especially diesel cars. VW is the leader in this with their TDI diesel, and just recently John and Helen Taylor set a new record for the longest distance driven on one tank of diesel – 1626 miles! That averages to 84.1mpg in a STOCK 2012 VW Passat (the official EPA rating for this car is 43mpg…so much of this gain was due to driving technique no doubt). No modifications, zilch. They even included 120lbs of luggage to make it a realistic road trip. With this sort of gas mileage in a mid-size German sedan, hybrids don’t look nearly as impressive.

Full press release after the break.

(via Autoblog)

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84mpg VW Passat