First rumors about a mid-engine sports car from Volkswagen were brought by the German magazine AutoBild last week. Today we bring you the first TopSpeed rendering of the car.

Volkswagen made its first attempts of launching a mid-engine car with the launch of the Concept R and EcoRacer. But these were just concepts that were never meant for production. The future sports car (set to be offered in both coupe and roadster versions) will be the company's first real attempt to launch on the sports car market and will go on sale by the end of 2011.

The future sports car, which does not have a name at the moment, is rumored to borrow the Concept R's design and EcoRacer's engineering. Under the hood Volkswagen is considering placing a wide range of mid-mounted four-cylinder engines, including VW’s 168bhp 1.4-liter TSI gas engine and a new 125bhp 1.6-liter TDI common-rail diesel. The 0 to 60 mph sprint will be made under 7 seconds and fuel consumption could be as high as 63 mpg.

Audi will also produce a higher end version of the car. A first concept version will be revealed this November at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

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