Volkswagen Up is back with 20 hp

In October last year, the very last copies of the Volkswagen Up rolled off the production line. Now the Up is back, thanks to the German Geparda, but with only 20 hp…

After a career of more than ten years, the Volkswagen Up was finally retired at the end of last year. New ones are no longer built. The German Geparda now comes with a very special Up. The creation, simply called Geparda, that plays the leading role in this article is a Volkswagen Up with only 20 hp and a strange-looking rear axle. The advantage: 16-year-olds are allowed to drive it on the road in Germany!

Every Geparda started life simply as a Volkswagen Up, but the German company is putting a lot of effort into it. The target? Converting the Volkswagen Up into an L5e vehicle. That immediately explains why the Geparda baptized Up looks so strange, especially when viewed from the back. In the middle of the car we see two wheels positioned closely together. On paper, the Geparda is therefore a three-wheeler, which means that German teenagers can ride it from the age of 16.

Unlike compact city drivers that you can drive on the road from a young age, such as the Opel Rocks Electric and Citroën Ami, the Geparda does not have an electric drivetrain. The naturally aspirated 1.0 MPi’s of the Up are being thoroughly scaled back by the Germans. The new power: 20 hp, forces that are simply controlled via a five-speed manual gearbox. The top speed is still 111 km/h. The 908 kilo Geparda has regular ABS, four airbags and can seat four people. The creative Germans report that they have adjusted the chassis to maintain the stability of the car somewhat after moving the rear wheels. The Geparda has a set of Eibach springs at the rear and a new stabilizer bar at the front. Striking: according to its creators, the Geparda should only be washed by hand. Also, Geparda – which means ‘cheetah’ – forbids you to fit other wheels.

The German company Ellenator also carries out similar treatments on the Fiat 500 and cars such as the Seat Ibiza, Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Fabia have also been regularly converted.