Volkswagen XL SPORT

When the Volkswagen XL Sport arrived on stage in Paris, I texted Peter Wouda, the original XL1’s designer: “What have they done to your car?” I bumped into him a few minutes later, and he was smiling. It  was what he had done to his car: they’d kept him on the project to do the XL Sport. He looked tired but was wearing a gleeful grin. “We didn't know where it would end, marrying the most powerful two-cylinder engine in the world with the car that uses the most economical twin-cylinder. We didn't know what would be possible. It was a tough trip.”

He clarifies the project status: “It’s not a static concept car, it’s meant to be drivable as a one-of. And it does drive, though it needs more work on the electronics. That’s why there’s no show-car jewellery on it. Everything is functional. There are active aerodynamics, and the rear spoiler and cooling ducts are electrically deployable, to keep the shape pure.” He’s referring to the sloping rear deck, above the engine. When the temperatures in that region get too high, the normally flush louvres swivel open.

On the face of it, the Ducati engine is a wildly exciting thing. Many of its steel parts have been replaced with titanium, meaning it weighs less  and revs more crazily and costs vastly more. But there is a but. Bike-engined cars have always been better in theory than practice, and there’s a reason. They have pretty hostile torque curves. There just isn’t much shove at realistic rpms, so to get a car many times heavier than a bike moving along, you must cling to the red line for all you’re worth.
High revs are brilliant in their place, but not for breakfast, dinner and tea. The Superleggera engine makes 75 lb ft at 7,000 rpm, and peaks peaks, people at only 100 lb ft, at just shy of 9,000rpm. You’ll have to drive it all-out. Always.

But at the moment we can’t drive it at all because it’s a concept car. Albeit one that can move under its own power. I asked Heinz-Jakob Neusser, VW’s development chief, if it’s good to drive. “Yes.” Big smile. “So will this ever be more than a one-of?” “Let us try.” Bigger smile.

The impulsion behind the XL Sport actually goes to the very top of the VW Group. When the XL1 was in gestation, under group R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg, he never tried to quash talk of a faster one. And at the very apex of the VW Group pyramid sits Ferdinand Piëch, chair of the supervisory board. He pushed for the XL1 right from the start. The deal to buy Ducati also had his dabs all over it. And guess what? The XL Sport’s DSG transmission is controlled by a lever with a wooden gear knob, just like the one in the Porsche 917, one of the greatest endurance racers ever, and a car directly engineered by the young Ferdinand Piëch, 45 years ago. It’s an overt tribute by the XL Sport team.

If VW builds it, it will be in tiny numbers and, frankly, sales will be limited because it’ll be punishingly expensive. It has to be, given the cost of the XL1 itself, and of the bike. A lot of money for not a lot of car but you don’t always measure value in kilos or horses. Heck, it’s what Lotus should be building. It makes an Alfa 4C look porky. It blows the whistle on the 600bhp-or-don’t-bother supercars that are too fast and over endowed to be properly stretched on real roads anywhere near where we live. The XL Sport ought to be glisteningly sharp, and powerful enough without spoiling itself. It deserves a chance to prove it.