Volkswagen Lupo - Around the World in 80-days...
Taken from a Jan 7, 2000 newpaper clipping of unknown origin.  Photos from VWVortex.com

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        Washington, D.C. -- With gas prices at the forefront of the news as of late, Volkswagen was blessed with nearly perfect timing as one frugal little car makes its way across the country and into Washington, D.C. today.

        The Lupo 80 Days project was chosen as a way for Volkswagen to show off the world's most frugal automobile in the form of the Lupo 3L TDI. Volkswagen has sent a caravan of two Polo 3L TDI automobiles (a photo car and the actual record car) as well as several Eurovans on a trip around the world.

        With the car passing through Washington, D.C. today on its way to New York City, Volkswagen of America chose to share this feat with the press and local politicians within the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan building on Pennsylvania Avenue.

        As Al Gore and George W. Bush square off over the pricing of fuel, this special Lupo, averaging over 100mpg thus far, grabbed loads of attention from the media and casual passers by on this busy Friday morning.

Lupo 3L TDI ñ Around the World in 80 Days and Across Five Continents

        The Lupo 3L TDI has already set up one significant world record: with its average fuel consumption of only 2.99 liters per 100 kilometers, it is the world's most economical series-production car and also the first one to break through the magic "three liters per 100 kilometers" barrier.

        Volkswagen's popular and highly economical small car is now in search of a further world record. In only 80 days a Lupo 3L TDI is to be driven all round the world. This in itself may not be considered an ultimate achievement at the start of the 21st century, but the economical Lupo is to complete this marathon run without consuming more than a thousand liters of diesel fuel.

        This unusual endurance test in extreme conditions enables the Lupo 3L TDI once again to demonstrate its exceptional quality. An amazingly economical small car, sold on the German market since mid-1999, it can already look back on a remarkable success story. By developing this standard production model systematically for low fuel consumption, Volkswagen was the first manufacturer to venture into such uncharted territory and create a totally new market segment. Until that time, genuine "three liter" cars had only appeared as design studies, but the Lupo 3L TDI is a production model with a technical concept that makes it entirely suitable for day-to-day use and matches the safety standards of any other small car.

        Success has proven that this remarkable concept is correct. Since its market launch a total of 6,300 Lupo 3L TDIs have been sold, a proportion of seven percent of the total sales volume for this smallest Volkswagen model.

        This result indicates that the public has taken to this model and recognizes its qualities, in particular its unrivaled environmental acceptability. These exemplary characteristics are now to be shown to the world by this spectacular 80-day run.

The Book That Inspired This Unusual Project

        The basic idea for this 80-day marathon comes from a well-known book by the French author Jules Verne (1828-1905). In the novel "Around his World in 80 Days", he describes an out-of-the-ordinary wager between members of London's Reform Club. The British gentlemen Phileas Fogg, a daily visitor to the club, accepts the challenge of traveling around the world in no more than 80 days, and arriving back punctually, in time to play his customary hand of whist. Together with his servant, Fogg is involved in countless adventures during his long journey, but by the end of the novel he has indeed managed to return to the British capital in time to claim his winnings.

        Nowadays a world tour can be undertaken in a far more simple way. The modern technology of the automobile and the aircraft make the journey easier, faster and far more comfortable. Yet even now it is possible to explore the true endurance limits of man and machine ñ for example when a small car is chosen for the journey and has to complete it on a limited quantity of fuel. To have no more than a thousand liters of diesel fuel available for the entire distance, which is to be as nearly as possible 33,333 kilometers long, is to be obliged to adopt an exceptionally economical driving style. This is just the kind of challenge that the Lupo 3L TDI is ideally equipped to take up.

        To ensure that fuel of suitable quality is available on even the most remote sections of the round-the-world journey to be undertaken by Volkswagen's most economical car, support is to be provided by Shell. The company will be the exclusive supplier of diesel fuel as the "three-liter" Lupo continues its marathon journey.

Eight Stages, Five Continents

        This 80-day endurance run will take the Lupo in eight stages to all five continents of the world. After the relatively simple opening stage that started in Berlin on the famous "Unter den Linden" avenue and finished in Paris, the world's most economical car took to the air and was flown directly to Johannesburg, South Africa. At the most southerly point of this continent, the participants in the journey began a symbolic campaign: in a reservation for the protection of threatened animal species, looked after by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Lupo's drivers gave an official name of "Lupo" to one of the already-rare "African wild dogs".

        From Capetown, the marathon transferred to Asia, and demonstrated its economy on visits to Bangkok, Kuala Lampur and Singapore before taking off for Australia.

        While in Australia, the Lupo and its tiny caravan made their way across the Outback via the only road that crosses the African continent, which travels quite far from amenities like a hotel.

        The American stage of the Lupo's journey began in San Francisco, headed south through Los Angeles and continued south into Mexico and down to Mexico City. Heading north and back to the USA, the group made stops in Laredo, Dallas, Tulsa, Memphis, Atlanta, Gainesville, Miami and Jacksonville before its stop today in Washington, D.C.

        After the stop in Washington, the Lupo visits New York before being air-freighted back to Europe. After arriving in London, the Lupo will be driven via Paris to Madrid, Lisbon and will then make a further outing to Marrakesh in North Africa.

        By way of Spain and France, it will retrace its steps and then set off for Rome, the capital of Italy. Finally, the road book for this marathon journey calls for the Lupo to tour Northern Europe. The route will run from Amsterdam to Oslo and Stockholm, culminating in the "grand finale", the stage from Copenhagen to Wolfsburg. If the Lupo is able to complete the entire journey according to schedule, it will then have covered 33,333 kilometers and will reach the Volkswagen Autostadt in Wolfsburg, on August 3rd, 2000.

Always the Latest News on TV and the Internet

        During the 80 days allocated to the Lupo 3L TDI for its marathon journey, the public will be kept informed continuously of the progress it is making. The "taff magazine" on the Pro Sieben TV channel will report two or three times a week on the tour, and a full report will be broadcast when it has been brought to a successful conclusion. The latest TV pictures will be transmitted to the production company by satellite.

        Internet access 24 hours a day will enable interested members of the public to check up on how the Lupo and its team are doing. By logging on to http://www.Lupo80days.com they can see the daily logbook with details of the stage just completed and any particularly interesting events that took place. (CLICK HERE to go straight to the English page)  Digital photos will be included on this page to convey some impression of what the Lupo's drivers are facing on their exciting but challenging tour. Internet surfers who keep in touch with the Lupo marathon regularly on their PCs will also be offered a chance to take part in various prize competitions.

Technical Features of the Lupo 3L TDI

        For a world tour intended to be completed on only a thousand liters of fuel, the Lupo 3L TDI is the best possible choice. With its average consumption of only 2.99 liters of diesel fuel per 100 kilometers, it can cover such large distances more economically than any other production car. Its tank holds 34 liters, so that the Lupo can normally cover at least a thousand kilometers before refueling. There are sound technical reasons for this record level of economy: the very latest engine design features and systematic weight-saving construction.

        The Lupo 3L TDI is powered by a three-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with direct fuel injection. Each cylinder has its own pump-injector unit, and from its displacement of 1.2 liters, it peaks at 140 Nm (103 ft/lbs) all the way from 1800 to 2400 rpm.

        A turbocharger with variable blade geometry, a charge-air intercooler and various friction-reducing design measures have increased the efficiency of this engine to more than 40 percent ñ an unsurpassed value worldwide for a passenger car. Yet this small three-cylinder engine is not the only explanation for the car's low fuel consumption. The automated direct-shift gearbox with stop-start function also makes a significant contribution towards extracting maximum energy from every drop of diesel fuel. It combines the convenience automatic transmission with the fun of using a modern "Tiptronic" shift. In the Economy mode, the engine is switched off as soon as the car is at a standstill with the brakes applied. The clutch is disengaged when the accelerator pedal is lifted, so that the Lupo coasts with the engine running at idle speed and thus saves even more fuel.

        Yet another factor that enables such amazingly low fuel consumption figures to be recorded is the amount of the weight that has been saved throughout the car. This particular version of the Lupo is Volkswagen's most economical model and a perfect example of what weight-saving construction can achieve.

        The door, flaps and wheel-arch panels of this "three-liter" Lupo are made of aluminum. Numerous components of the suspension and axle assemblies are also made from lightweight materials. Thanks to these measures, the "Economy Lupo" weighs only 830 kilograms without its driver (roughly 1000 lbs. less than a U.S. specification Golf TDI).

        Compared with other models in this line, the Lupo 3L TDIs body has been revised aerodynamically with a view to reducing the fuel consumption even further. Its drag coefficient is now only 0.29. Low friction tires with silica in the rubber mix cut rolling resistance and make an additional fuel-saving contribution.

        Because of its environmental acceptability in the form of low exhaust emissions and modest fuel consumption, the Lupo 3L TDI qualifies in Germany for considerable tax concessions decided upon by the government for such cars: until the end of 2005, Volkswagen's most economical car does not pay any road tax at all. The Lupo 3L TDI is also the only diesel car at all to comply with the exhaust emission limits laid down in the D4 standard.

        Despite these determined and successful attempts to reduce the Lupo 3L TDIs weight, Volkswagen has maintained many safety features required in a car today. It has airbags for the driver and front passenger, an anti-lock braking system and an electronic brake pressure distributor.

Should Volkswagen Succeed

        With a current average of roughly 55 miles per hour and over 100 miles per gallon, the Lupo 80 Days group is well ahead of Volkswagen's published fuel economy and thus well ahead of the curve for total consumption. Still, roads not so kind to fuel consumption await the little Lupo. Crossing through areas like the Alps will not be kind to their figures, though Volkswagen is confident that they will be successful. If they are correct, this little Lupo will find its place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the least fuel used for a car traveling around the globe.

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