Volkswagen's XL1 most economical production car of all time.

Two years after it was shown as a prototype, the fuel-sipping miracle is the most economical production car of all time.

As the world sweats over rising oil and fuel prices, VW’s timing is perfect.

This week the Wolfsburg firm previewed its radical two-seater XL1, which it claims can do 314 miles to every gallon.

A tiny two-pot 800cc 47-horse diesel engine and 27bhp electric motor and battery, plus wind-cheating aerodynamics, mean that this is the most economical production car of all time.

To VW’s credit, it showed the XL1 as a running prototype two years ago and now plans to put it into production, to be built alongside the VW Golf Cabriolet at the old Karmann Ghia factory.

The hand-built carbon fibre body weighs just 795kg, top speed is limited to 99.4mph, and it can even get to 60 in a decent 12.2 seconds.

There are lots of other clever tweaks, like carbon fibre anti-roll bars, ceramic brakes and seven-speed gearbox.

You can go 31 miles on battery power alone and then the diesel engine cuts in to give you another 310 miles.

Who'd drive it? All of us eventually

 

Even the windscreen has been specially designed to be just 3.2mm thick, while the lightweight wood fibre dash is only 1.4mm thick.

The brainchild of Dr Ferdinand Piech, billionaire boss of VW, who also owns half of Saxony, this is a landmark car that’s as long as a Polo but lower than a Porsche Boxster.

And the XL1 isn’t just a concept. It’s been fully homologated to pass crash regulations and VW says it will be physically on sale soon.

But don’t expect it to be the same price as a Polo.

VW is committing to an initial run of just 50 XL1 cars and the price tag on each could run to several tens of thousands of pounds.

But as a signpost for the rest of the motor industry and a test-bed for the kind of innovative fuel-saving technology the world so badly needs, VW’s fuel-sipping miracle could just prove to be one of the most significant cars of the 21st century, never mind the decade.

Sales fall is draining Treasury's tank

Fuel sales are at their lowest for 23 years.

But this week’s shock news that we bought 100 million fewer litres of fuel in January than in December should be no surprise to anybody – because the UK fuel market is totally dysfunctional.

Look on petrolprices.com and you’ll see that the regional difference between the lowest and highest prices for diesel and unleaded is now running at nearly 20p.

That’s right. In some areas, hapless motorists are being forced to pay £1.60 a litre – or £7.26 a gallon – for derv.

That fall in sales lost the Government £60million last month alone. If things carry on this way, the Treasury will be out of pocket by nearly £750million every year.

I’ve written to the Financial Services Authority asking for an investigation into oil prices because, despite this slump in European and UK demand for fuel, stock market speculation is driving the price up – latest figures show that petrol has risen 6.25p a litre since January. So far, the FSA has stalled me.

Next week FairFuelUK and I are lobbying MPs in the House of Commons to force a duty cut in the March budget.