Since Ducati was bought by Audi for $1.2 billion, there have been many rumours about how the two companies would utilise each other’s technologies. Latest news mentioned, that Volkswagen Group as the parent company of Audi has a plan to develop sports cars using motorcycle engines.
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| Volkswagen XL Sport Concept car described by Ferdinand Piech, CEO of VW in Vienna, Austria. (Picture from: http://www.caradvice.com.au/) |
On the occasion of a speech at the University of Vienna, Ferdinand Piech, CEO of VW revealed the new marriage plans between Ducati with VW. Sports car concept in question is the Volkswagen XL Sport that will use the latest Superquadro engine of Ducati 1199 Panigale. |
| Volkswagen XL Sport concept car. (Picture from: http://www.caradvice.com.au/) |
XL Sport will be the new evolution of the XL1 which is already hatched. Both will bear the burden as the future VW cars. XL1 more towards environmentally friendly, the car is a plug-in hybrid diesel, mated between 800 cc two-cylinder turbo-diesel engine (47 PS and torque of 120.6 Nm) and an electric motor-powered 27 PS and torque of 100nm.
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| Ducati 1199 Panigale. (Picture from: http://motorbikewriter.com/) |
Well, for XL Sport, its duties more towards to "escort" sporty side, but still give priority to fuel efficiency, such as Ducati's claims on the Panigale engine that can generate power of 187 PS and 123.3 Nm of torque.
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| 2014 Volkswagen XL1 (Euro spec) - First Drive, Wolfsburg, June 2013. (Picture from: http://www.motorauthority.com/) |
Later, XL Sport will be lighter than the XL1, its weight about 794 kg. Its engine will be combined with VW's dual-clutch transmission. Currently, the car with a design similar to the XL1 was still in early development stages. Piech's presentation also still in the form of the computerized concept.
The rear-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive hybrid supercar is expected to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show next year. We'll wait for the end of this story in a tangible form. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | VW | CAR ADVICE | MOTOR AUTHORITY]
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