Volkswagens New XL1 Hybrid is Capable of 261 mpg

100 miles per gallon has long been the benchmark which automakers have been working to reach. Volkswagen created their Lupo 3L in 1999 which could hit 78.4 miles on one gallon of diesel, a great achievement. Now with ex Bentley and Bugatti engineer Ulrich Hackenberg on board, he was set a goal of breaking the 100mpg barrier. He came back to them with the XL1, which absolutely devastated that 100mpg target by being capable of running 261 miles on a single gallon on diesel!

The car was built from scratch to be efficient, this meant cutting weight, slimming the aerodynamics, adding carbon fiber components in place of steel ones and fitting it out with an 830cc, two-cylinder diesel engine, along side a 20kW electric motor. The car may only be able to max out at 99 miles per hour, but it will travel over 500 miles on a single 2.6 gallon tank of fuel.

This isn’t just a crazy prototype either, the company has every intention of selling 250 of these in Europe and the U.S. as a limited run. No word on price, but it’s not going to be cheap.

Thank you Popsci for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Popsci.