Back in 2002, Volkswagen unveiled a car that was nothing like anything it had made before. Called the 1-litre car, it promised an ultra-efficient 1 litre per 100 km of fuel consumption, was built with ultra-lightweight materials, and placed the passenger behind the driver.

It morphed into the 2009 L1 - which in turn gave rise to the limited-production XL1 plug-in diesel hybrid.

This week, out of the blue, Volkswagen unveiled the spiritual successor to all of those vehicles: the Volkswagen Mission Efficiency. A concept car built around the same principles, but replacing the plug-in hybrid drivetrain with an all-electric drivetrain out of a production Volkswagen ID. Polo, it not only adds more seating than any of its predecessors could offer - but also manages an astonishing energy efficiency that pushes its range to more than 450 miles per charge of its 55 kilowatt-hour battery pack.

Having experienced the XL1 first hand more than a decade ago, Nikki explains why the original XL1 was such a unique vehicle - and puts forward the case as to why Volkswagen should take the Mission Efficiency out of concept car state, and make it a production vehicle.

⏱️ Chapter Breakdown:

00:00 - Introduction 04:14 - Right sized vehicle for right-sized purposes 05:37 - The Mission Efficiency Concept 06:02 - What we're covering 06:22 - The history of the 1-litre concept car 07:43 - The Volkswagen L1 08:05 - The Volkswagen XL1 08:38 - Nikki's own experiences behind the wheel of the XL1 12:20 - Original footage from Nikki's experience in 2013 13:38 - Buying the XL1 14:02 - Support the channel! 14:38 - Mission Efficiency - What it offers 18:09 - Could it ever make it to production? 21:39 - The reality of production today 22:32 - And the Volkswagen board is a problem.. 23:35 - Thanks, and Goodbye!

👥 Channel Sponsors 🌱 Electric Vehicle Association - https://www.myeva.org 🐕 Little Collie Shepherd - https://www.littlecollie.com

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🎙️ Credits:

Host, Script, Editor: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield Color: Vi Horton Art & Animation : Erin Carlie Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield Music: via Artlist.io