New Small Family

The second member of the “New Small Family” celebrated its premiere at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show: the space up! study. The micro-MPV is a miniature miracle of spatial engineering with four doors. In actual fact there are six doors, for the MPV study features a two-part hinged door at the rear in place of a conventional tailgate. This opens to reveal a luggage compartment that expands from 220 to 1,005 litres, four seats with a multivariable design, plus an innovative cockpit concept.

Like all of the “New Small Family” members, the space up! is characterised by a whole new brand of harmony, fusing technical layout on the one hand and emotional design on the other.
The micro-MPV is especially striking when seen in profile. The styling here was inspired by the legendary Samba microbus, with an elongated window section, distinctive C-posts and butterfly doors opening in opposing directions. This allows all four seats to be accessed with consummate ease.

Inside, the space up! is a fully-fledged four-seater – with two integrated child seats in the rear. To transform the adult seats into child seats, the seat cushions are simply turned over and two shoulder supports folded out on each side. Special cushions made from airflow foam allow the seats to automatically adjust to individual anatomies. Yet despite all its comfort, the space up! boasts impressive practical credentials too: objects up to 2.80 metres in length can be loaded by pushing them all the way through to the front luggage compartment. And all from an exterior length of a mere 3.68 metres. That makes the space up! a whole 15 centimetres shorter than the Fox, the most compact Volkswagen model at the current time.

The dashboard is one of the modules that is common to all the models in the “New Small Family”. It comprises two central displays: an 8-inch screen in the cockpit displays information such as the speed, fuel level and range, as well as current CO2 emissions. In the centre of the dashboard is a 7-inch screen that shows the way ahead for operating concepts. Functions are controlled using a touchscreen with proximity sensor technology that also enables it to react to gestures, i.e. certain hand movements.