UNTIL now, this car has been kept closely under wraps.

Many people believed it couldn't be built.

Volkswagen call it the one-litre car, but that's not its engine size it's the amount on fuel it uses to cover 100 kilometres.

That works out at an astonishing 285mpg!

The car was put to the test by the VW chairman Dr Ferdinand Piech on a drive from the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg to VW's annual meeting in Hamburg.

In building the prototype, the company has created a vehicle which looks more like a sports car than the usual oddball research vehicle.

Volkswagen insist that inside we find not a spartan research vehicle but a high-tech specialist car.

It looks more like a sports car because of the machinery and equipment which went into it.

The body was developed in a wind tunnel and it was clear that a narrow and low body form would be essential.

So the car is 3.47 metres long 13ft 3ins but only 49 inches wide and about 40 inches tall. That's enough to carry two people, says the maker.

To save weight, the car isn't painted, and the body is made of lightweight material.

Power comes from a single-cylinder 299cc diesel engine, centrally positioned in front of the rear axle.

Its 6.5-litre tank gives it a range of 650 miles.

VW say: "The project team have combined driving pleasure with a level of fuel consumption never seen before."

To support the claim that it's not spartan, the little VW boasts a reversing camera and keyless operation you use a starter button in the cockpit, and the gullwing door locks automatically.