Volkswagen LupoTiming chain or Belt?

The Volkswagen Lupo is a city car (A-segment in Europe) produced by the German automaker Volkswagen. It entered the market in 1998 and shares almost all of its elements with the Seat Arosa.

The Lupo (which is the latin word for wolf) owes its name to the city where it was first assembled, Wolfsburg (Germany). Both the Lupo and the Arosa were designed by Jozef Kabaň and were manufactured on the Volkswagen Group A00 Platform, which is a smaller version of the A0 used for the Volkswagen Polo and the Seat Ibiza. This model only had one generation and a redesign. This car was equipped with naturally aspirated gasoline engines and two turbo diesel variants, as well as a 1.7-liter SDI engine.

There were some special versions of the Lupo. One of the most important was the Lupo 3L, created to beat a record of low fuel consumption, spending only 3 liters per 100 kilometers. There was also a Lupo FSi version and a Sporty version: the Lupo GTI.

Lupo 3L, a modified version to improve fuel efficiency.

Sales for the Volkswagen Lupo were not as good as expected. Its price was quite elevated and the Arosa itself was a better alternative. This led to the premature death of the model in 2005. Volkswagen ended up covering this segment with the Volkswagen Fox, an urban minicompact they had designed for the Chinese market. In 2011, VAG created the true spiritual successor to the Lupo, the Volkswagen Up!, which also had its versions for Seat and Skoda.

There was only one generation of the Volkswagen Lupo. Approximately half a million units were sold. Among its competitors we can highlight the Renault Twingo, the Smart Fortwo, the Ford Ka, the Fiat Seicento or the Hyundai Atos.