Volkswagen BlueSport: two-seater roadster still alive

VW’s BlueSport show car made its debut at the Detroit motor show three years ago but has struggled to progress to showrooms as the company tried to establish a business case.

The BlueSport was due to be twinned with a new Audi R4 and a sub-Boxster Porsche, but VW’s member of the board of management for development, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, says the VW sports car could still be built even without the sister models.

“[The VW Group] will have lots of convertibles in the future, a Golf convertible, Audi will have convertibles, but of a roadster … I’m working on it,” says Hackenberg.

“I drove [the BlueSport] last summer … and the car is fantastic. But I don’t have agreement of the company [yet] that we will build it.”

Hackenberg says the company needs to sell a minimum of 50,000 to 60,000 Bluesports to make investment in the sports car worthwhile.

He admits Porsche has moved away from the idea of having a more affordable sports car positioned below the Boxster, a roadster that was unveiled in next-generation form at the 2012 Geneva motor show.

“Porsche has the Boxster based on the 911 [architecture] and I think they are not looking for a smaller one. They were interested, but I am missing the [sales] volume.”

The BlueSport would be a rival for models such as the Mazda MX-5, as well as the upcoming Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ.

The 2009 Volkswagen BlueSport concept was just under four metres in length and powered by a 132kW turbo diesel engine.

VW quoted 6.6 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint, with a top speed of 226km/h.

Fuel consumption, aided by engine stop-start technology, was rated at 4.3L/100km.