Butterfly doors

Interesting end to the working week. I spent this afternoon driving this rare beast in central London. It is Volkswagen's newest model, the XL1. It is a diesel-electric hybrid in a partially carbon fibre body with butterfly doors, looking a bit like something out of a sci-fi film.. There is no rear view mirror, and no door mirrors, instead little cameras that look down the sides of the car relay a TV-style view onto the door interiors. To save weight, the passenger seat is fixed with no adjustment, and there is no power steering, but because the car is so light it doesn't need it.

Volkswagen is only planning to make 200 XL1s, and just 30 of them are coming to Britain. The price? An eye-watering £98,000! Form an orderly queue ...