I test drove the Volkswagen XL1 on Friday at the Chaoyang Sports Center. What’s the XL1, you ask? Only the most efficient car in the world — efficient in every way, from weight to energy usage to fuel consumption (it can go 100 kilomters on one liter, thus the 1 in XL1). “Are there any areas in which you think you can do more optimization?” I asked Dr. Volker Kease, technical project manager.

“Nope,” he replied. “We’ve done what’s possible at the moment.”

He was neither boasting nor bluffing. The XL1 is fitted with Plexiglas windows, carbon seat frames instead of aluminum, a magnesium dual-clutch gearbox, and wood in select places inside the paneling, all in the name of optimization. Oh, and no side-view mirrors — those would be on the inside, via cameras — to reduce drag. It’s equipped with a lithium-ion battery and can roll 50 kilometers in electric mode alone, with zero emissions.

Despite all this, the car is still a car, as driveable as any. According to the specs, it can hit 100 km/h in 12.7 seconds. It handled exactly like a normal vehicle, though a minimalist one — and one that’s surely to draw eyeballs, if that’s the kind of thing you want.

Which is all to say that it could be the perfect car for China. Imagine a second-generation rich throwing down the big bucks for one of these attention-grabbers, simultaneously buying the right to gloat to friends that he’s saving the environment, too. I spoke to Lorenz Fuehrlinger of Audi China, who happens to be head of R&D, who agreed that China is primed for electric vehicles. “I’m convinced in the next 10 to 15 years we’re going to see this change,” he said. “Maybe in the next 15 years we’re going to see these systems in place.”

Therein lies the obstacle, of course: the systems, i.e. the infrastructure required — charging poles, for one — to support a network of electric vehicles. To say nothing of attitudes. But we entertainined the notion that attitudes will have to change. Fuehrlinger lives in Beijing, so he knows as well as you and I — and every official — about the P word. And from a policy standpoint, if you want to both stimulate car growth and curb emissions, wouldn’t e-vehicles be the obvious way to go? Consider: the proposed odd-even license plate restrictions are for days when there’s lots of pollution, not traffic. If that’s truly the worry, why not subsidize e-vehicles, or give them special licenses that exempt them from plate restrictions?

An e-vehicle maker’s dream, that. As one presenter said — disclosure: I was at a VW press event — e-vehicles “perfectly fit China and its market.” (Another executive told me pollution “frequently” comes up in VW’s discussions with Chinese officials.) You can expect to see more car companies move in on second- and third-tier cities with hybrid vehicles, since drivers there don’t necessarily have an entrenched preconception of how a car should operate — fuel tank is empty; fill fuel tank; drive until fuel tank is empty.

As for Volkswagen, they won’t be selling any XL1s in China, since only 250 of these vehicles will be made in the world. Fifty will be prototypes, and the rest will go on sale in Europe only. But as far as concept cars go, the concept is solid here. It’s one that people will eventually get behind. The only question for everyone else: how far ahead or behind the curve can you afford to get?

The man pictured above is Ali Khalili from the Volkswagen R&D Center in Beijing, who accompanied me on my test drive. He may have been slightly disappointed when I failed to hit the top speed of 160 km/h. Next time.

A family dispute over money has produced the above picture of a car on top of a five-story apartment complex in Lishui, Zhejiang province.

Xinhua interviewed the landlady, who confirmed that she put the car there (with help from a crane, presumably). The Audi belongs to her son-in-law and is being kept hostage because he and his wife owes the family money — more than 10,000 yuan, it seems.

“Why suspend it on top of a roof?” the reporter asked.

“He has the keys,” the woman replied. “One day, he invited his friends over in the middle of the night and planned to drive the car away. I guarded it the entire night.

“Later I thought… this is no way to do it. It’s best to hoist the car onto the roof.”

Sounds reasonable.

“After he returns my money, I’ll return his car,” the woman says.

She was unwilling, according to Xinhua, to provide further details.

(H/T Kevin McGeary)

How bad must a car dealership be to drive someone to demonstrably obliterate his own car? Outside the 12th Qingdao International Auto Show yesterday, three men, apparently driven to the brink by customer service (we’ve all been, yeah?), took sledgehammers and systematically ruined a Maserati (we’ve not done this).

The vehicle was specifically a Maserati Quattroporte reportedly worth 2.6 million yuan ($423,000). “A friend of the luxury car’s owner said they did this to protest the car dealer’s bad service,” reports Sina. Apparently the dealer repaired the car using fixed parts, and that was deemed irremediably unacceptable.

The dealer has admitted to wrongdoing but did nothing for months to fix the problem.

The vengeful owner has set up a special Sina Weibo account to further publicize his discontent. The phtotos below are sampled from Sina. Car News China has more.

(H/T Alicia)

What if we told you the last one to stop touching the car gets to keep it? How long could/would you touch it, then?

Yesterday in Shanghai, some 60 people began competing to win a new Volkswagen Polo by keeping their hands pressed to it. According to China Daily, contestants were allowed one 15-minute bathroom break every six hours, and the last person to remove his/her hand is the grand prize winner.

To the best of our knowledge, this competition is currently ongoing. It started yesterday, right? Last year, the winner of a similar contest touched a BMW for 87 consecutive hours. EIGHTY-SEVEN. He said the experience felt like “being kidnapped.”

Good luck, 2013 contestants.

(H/T Alicia)

UPDATE, 11:51 pm: Oh look, video!

A Latvian tank manufacturer has its sights set on the Chinese market. Dartz, owned by Leonard Yankelovich, plans to roll out its first non-armored vehicle, called Black Snake, to ring in Chinese New Year. The $1-million-plus vehicle comes with a 5.5-liter twin turbo V8 engine that produces 557 horsepower.

Whoa.

Also, according to Forbes:

The Black Snake is now the centerpiece of the brand with high performance, all-wheel drive offerings and the usual garnishings of diamond-encrusted hood ornaments.

Like any other Dartz, this tank-a-jeep was built using the same “kapsula” technology used in Joseph Stalin’s car. In lieu of armored plating this time, the Black Snake is available in a variety of leathers, including snake, crocodile, ostrich and — ladies and gentlemen — whale penis. (It might be fake — hopefully, at least.) Would Pamela Anderson protest this one as well?

This little baby also comes with gold — “covered with leaf gold formed like snakeskin,” according to Forbes. I bet it’s gonna be a smash in the next Chinese car expo, with or without skimpily dressed models.

The $1 million price tag might be a bargain if you consider that just a year ago Dartz came out with a dozen 8-million-dollar cars. Aimed at the Chinese consumer, of course.

Finally, as a thank you gift, Black Snake buyers get 56 grams of free caviar every month for two years. Totally worth the money.

(Image via Business Insider; below image via first link)