Thanks for uploading this. I like the staggered seating, looks very cool.

Yea the staggered seating is so they save weight on fitting seat rails, instead the passenger seat is fixed.

Oli, their original brief was to design a car that was super efficient and affordable for everyone. I read at one point it was supposed to cost around £4000! But VW being VW, they've obviously got carried away with the R&D and put way too much money into it, like they did with the Veyron, even at £1,000,000 they were loosing some £800,000 per car for the first few years apparently.

I think a less complex, non hybrid version with the 0.8 litre diesel would still do well over 100 MPG without EV capabilities, but they've already invested too much in it. They salesman told me VW are very fussy who buys the XL1, they want them to go to private collectors.

Hello. I am new to this forum but I am a huge XL1 fan. There are some differences between the first 50 produced XL1 (made for demo and test runs) and the final 200 pieces. One of the differences is, that the rear wheels were made of magnesium in the first 50 cars. The current 200 cars however have alu wheels and I can attach some pictures of them if you want. You can find different numbers on the different pages regarding the current number of cars. It is correct, that a total of 250 cars were produced but only 200 cars were sold to public. I was told that VW had to destroy the other 50 (demo cars). It was not only private car collectors that have received one but also car lovers that wanted to use the car more frequently or even as a daily driver. I have found owners with about 50'000km on the car which gives approx 25'000km a year. On the other hand, I have seen one with 200km. Many people have told me, that they dont like the appearance of the XL1. It is physics and the technical engineering that made the car to look as it does. On pictures, it seems to be a normal (sized) car but the first contact lets you realize, that this little car is different and a masterpiece of engineering.

Hello welcome, I am a big fan of the XL1 too.

Yes some people are only concerned about styling, for others though, they appreciate and understand why certain cars look the way they do. I had it all the time in my Honda Insight, some people just hated the way it looked and despite all the technical clever engineering behind it, they couldn't appreciate any of it because of the aesthetics. Shame.

And then there are people like me, for whom styling is important, but not the only criteria. There are a lot of people like that! Most consumers like pretty, and aren't willing to sacrifice that to be practical, or because the salesman tells them about the buckets of tech.

Similarly, there are some people who are enamored with tech. It's a bragging right, like those who are enamored with the most horsepower, or getting that specific motorcycle that wins the races.

"Beautiful" (to my eyes) is one of the big reasons I'm driving my 2015 Audi Q5 and not a Lexus SUV. It's also one of the reasons I'm not in the least bit interested in the (not attractive to me, yet tech-laden, and 10% more expensive) 2017 Audi Q5. I'm also the guy who says "If I became a millionaire, there's nothing Ferrari or Lamborghini makes that's pleasing to my eyes, so I wouldn't get one."

Each person values different things in different proportions.

(BTW, no offense taken. I'm just presenting an alternative perspective on the importance of beauty to many.)