Voltswagen: The Mk2 VW Golf Diesel-Electric Hybrid

This year's star car at the Geneva show will go down as one of the most unconventional there's been, but perhaps the most prescient. What was it? A three-year-old Volkswagen Golf with over 60,000km on the clock. True, it sported some rather garish striping over its plain white bodywork, but that aside, it was about as diverting as a crack in the pavement.

What makes this car special lies under the bonnet. This car is a hybrid, so-called because it is powered by two engines, one diesel, the other electric. The point of the extra complication is, of course, ecological, and the beauty of the system is that it tackles several environmental problems simultaneously.





From CAR Magazine, "The Car In The Future" supplement, 1990