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Here's one Volkswagen which we may not be able to see over here in this region due to high taxes and the COE. The 5 door Volkwagen Up is actually a pretty neat 'People's Car' (which is what Volkswagen stands for) in that it provides a decent set of wheels for the general urban populace. It is set to be sold in Europe by the fourth quarter of 2012. This little UPstart follows hot on the heels of the recently launched 3 door hatchback variant. It has clever packaging and frugal fuel sipping engines that actually make it a very good city car. It has a 1.0liter petrol engine equipped with BlueMotion Technology. This means all the usual VW economy gaining tricks and stop-start function too. But as I stated, this is one Up and coming city car that we most probably will not be able to buy. It is down to economics presumably, and basically the dreaded Certificate Of Entitlement. The COE lumps eco-friendly 1.0liter cars together with cars (and sadly, taxis) 1.6liters and below. So if VW were to bring in the Up, it would have to actually be Up (pun intended) against the Polo and the Golf. And as Singapore is a small market, in-house competition isn't good especially when external competition is already pretty ridiculous as even Mercedes Benz is technically a competitor with the C-class sedans. Note that the same 1600cc and below COE is required to buy the Mercedes C class and if the COE costs SG$50,000. That would be the COE you need to pay for a truly tiny car like the Up and it isn't logical to the eyes of potential car owners. They'd rather buy a bigger car for better value of money. But I suppose most of you are already aware of this, aren't you? And therefore, there is presumably no chance of a Volkswagen Up in whatever form for people over here.

[extract] And before we can even start making a whole lot of Volkswagen 'Up' jokes, Volkswagen starts the ball rolling. They're calling the variants Take Up, Move Up, and High Up. For the launch, there is also the