Italdesign Giugiaro unveiled their two new concept cars for Volkswagen, designed for this year’s Geneva Motor Show, called Tex and Go!. The two prototypes are the Giugiaro’s interpretation for VW’s future design.
The concepts include a sporty coupe and a functional MPV, both designed for urban use, potentially Volkswagen’s future A0 segment cars. They are base don the modular transverse architecture (MQB= Modularer Quer-Baukasten) platform. The first production models based on this architecture will emerge next year.
In future this architecture will indeed be able to house an electrical plug-in system, a hybrid system, a classical internal combustion engine powered by petrol, diesel, LPG, CNG and even hydrogen fuel cells without distinction.
The Go! is an electric car powered by VW’s Blue-e-motion electric drivetrain, while the plug-in Twïn Drive hybrid is fitted on the Tex. Thanks to these technologies, the two prototypes guarantee performance ever-attentive to the environment. The Go! is able to travel 240 km at zero emissions, while the Tex can run 35 km in electric mode.
The Tex features four real seats, front wheel drive and a gently aggressive line. The car has a very compact size and is very low (1355 mm in height) and 1750 mm wide and also gets 19-inch wheels. Its set-up is that of a classic two-door coupé whose clearly sporty personality is emphasised by an aggressive front and its rear flaunting two spoilers.
The front is distinguished by a slender grille that encloses the light clusters in an unprecedented trapezoidal shape and three air intakes in the bumper/spoiler zone, necessary for cooling the brake discs and 1.4-litre turbo engine. The VW badge sits in the centre of the grille and is optically underscored by the V-shaped groove of the bonnet. Windscreen and roof are a single piece of glass that becomes dark electronically.
Its performance is that of a pure sports car. The Tex is able to reach 100 km/h from a standstill in about 6 seconds, and reach a top speed of 220 km/h.
The Go! is a hatchback boasting a total length of 3990 mm thanks to its smaller overhangs. The battery pack is housed underneath the front and rear seating positions. This vertical package allows for the Go! a weight distribution of 58% on the front and 42% on the rear.
An electronically driven system pushes the door outwards and pulls it back parallel to the vehicle body for gaining access to the rear seats. This mechanism, which draws on the one used on the VW Milano Taxi (presented in May 2010), offers the advantageous practicality of sliding doors but without sacrificing their section (room is found inside for a comfortable armrest) and makes it possible to do away with the unattractive tracks on the body typical of this solution.
