Volkwagen Up! could be FWD

When Volkswagen unveiled the Up! concept last year, they announced the production version will be RWD, but because of some development difficulties, the Up! may have to be converted to a more conventional front-wheel-drive layout to achieve its original targets.

According to Volkswagen the project has three key difficulties. First, the low-cost, mid-engined layout of the Up! is proving more costly to engineer than anticipated. It’s apparently difficult to accommodate a radiator in the car’s nose and trunk coolant through the car. Second, the Up!’s rearward weight bias has caused problems with cross-wind stability in early testing.

The combination of these two serious factors is threatening to force styling compromises the company might yet reject.

But Volkswagen is saying that those problems can be beaten and that the project will go on.