Together with VW Tex concept, VW Go! Concept was unveiled by Volkswagen at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The design of Go! Concept car variant by Volkswagen is oriented on the interior development. Among the features are large glass elements, extended wheelbase and ergonomic interior space. Italdesign develops this VW Go! variant to create compact car with maximizing interior space. The length of car is 3,990 mm and it’s combined with 2,700 mm wheelbase for creating distinctive looks on the exterior design of the car. On this VW car, the conventional mirrors have been replaced by the side camera. The interior of this vehicle give 4 identical seating units whereas the panel instrument has widescreen display to inform main informations.
Exterior Design
Designed for the city, the Go! together with the sporty Tex could increase the wide range of Volkswagen products to A0 segment even more.
With the same wheelbase as that of the Passat – 2700 mm – the Go! is a hatchback boasting a total length of 3990 mm thanks to its smaller overhangs. The battery pack is housed underneath the front and rear seating positions.
This vertical package allows for the Go! a weight distribution of 58% on the front and 42% on the rear.
“With this exercise I wanted to continue the design of a car able to offer maximum utilization of its interior,” Giorgetto Giugiaro stated.
“The project started with the 1976 New York Taxi, and continued with the 1978 Megagamma, the 1998 Structura and then came to maturity with the 2010 Emas.”
“The Go! is less than 4 metres long, but offers more passenger room than that of a large SUV and has a 400 up to 525-litre boot, ideal for city use.”
The design of the exteriors is dominated by extensive glass surfaces, in clear contrast with the trends of recent years of providing cars with increasingly smaller windows.
In addition to filling the passenger compartment with light and giving its occupants the chance to thoroughly enjoy city scenery, also thanks to its totally glass roof, this design offers the driver with maximum visibility while driving.
The A pillar is in particular considerably farther forward than its traditional position, and the bulk of the door mirrors is eliminated by using cameras.
The side windows also extend beneath the waistline – markedly high and optically taken up again by adding a longitudinal structure that crosses the side windows – drawing on a solution introduced in 1988 with the Asgard prototype.
This lets the driver benefit from maximum visibility even during manoeuvres and when taking tight curves.
Like in the Emas, only the lower part of the windows (the part beneath the longitudinal structure) can be electrically lowered.
This solution reduces the weight that the electric window mechanism has to support to a minimum, and is in any case necessary for meeting all of the essential operations such as paying tolls or refuelling.
The seat H point (corresponding to the passenger hip position) is located higher than that of mass-produced cars but lower than that of an SUV. This solution makes getting in and out of the passenger compartment extremely comfortable.
An electronically driven system pushes the door outwards and pulls it back parallel to the vehicle body for gaining access to the rear seats.
This mechanism, which draws on the one used on the VW Milano Taxi (presented in May 2010), offers the advantageous practicality of sliding doors but without sacrificing their section (room is found inside for a comfortable armrest) and makes it possible to do away with the unattractive tracks on the body typical of this solution.
Without sacrificing the family feeling typical of the Golf and the Golf Plus, the Go! offers innovative solutions both in the front and back that combine aesthetic pleasure with practical functionality.
The grille, dominated by the large VW badge in the centre, incorporates the front light clusters with Xenon/LED technology.
The air intake is placed at the height of the fog lights and horizontally splits the front spoiler, adjusting the air flow necessary for cooling the front electric motors.
The tailgate reintroduces the theme of the glass surfaces interrupted by a longitudinal insert that not only optically takes up the theme characterizing the side view, but conceals the windscreen wiper and rear cameras that turn on when the reverse gear is engaged.
To make loading luggage easier, the tailgate can be operated electronically for both opening and closing. A sensor that activates the opening mechanism by simply moving the foot is also fitted underneath the bumper.
The light clusters are positioned under the glass surface and are invisible when the panel is off. When the tailgate is opened, they are repeated by two additional taillights located in the lower part of the bumper, beside the rear air intake, which also house the rear fog lights.
Interior Design
All of the elements of the Go! Concept interior have been styled and designed focusing on ergonomics.
The driver and three passengers sit on four identical and electronically adjustable seats. Those in the rear can also be folded down using an electronic adjustment mechanism and with remote control, and they form a single surface on the rear floor panel level to increase the maximum loading volume to 525 litres.
A storage console/sliding armrest sits between the front seats. If completely pulled back, it aids the driver when getting out from the passenger side.
This solution is particularly useful if parking is narrow or if there are objects blocking the opening of the left door.
The control panel displays the most important information such as speed, fuel consumption and fuel level directly at the base of the windscreen, at the rear of the deep dashboard.
Giugiaro was extremely keen on this solution. “With the controls positioned in this way, the driver does not have to continuously change his focal length between the foreground of the dashboard and the long surface of the road in front of him. With this layout he can keep his eyes set on the road, distraction-free, and have all of the information necessary for driving available at all times.”
The monitors of the rear view cameras are also at the base of the windscreen, but at the two side ends. The dashboard contains a touchscreen monitor in the classic position. It groups together all of the auxiliary controls, the infotainment system, the satellite navigation system and, when the reverse gear is engaged, the images of the camera for manoeuvring.
