Volkswagen put a ridiculous motorcycle engine in its most futuristic car

What happens if you take one of the most futuristic production cars ever made and tweak it just a little bit to turn it into a beast?

Volkswagen knows the answer: it took its ultra-efficient XL1 and swapped out the 47-horsepower diesel engine for the fire-breathing 1,199cc V-twin out of the Ducati 1199 Superleggera superbike. (Volkswagen Group's Audi acquired Ducati a couple years ago, so this is the best kind of corporate synergy we're seeing here.) The car, which weighs under 2,000 pounds, now has 197hp at its disposal. It's called the XL Sport.

It'll reach a claimed 168 mph and run from 0 to 62 in 5.7 seconds — not typical supercar numbers, but when you consider that the XL Sport does it with less than 1.2 liters of engine under the hood, it's incredibly impressive. It also retains the XL1's ridiculously futuristic looks and pushes them even further; it actually looks like an exotic.

There's no sign that VW is considering the XL Sport for sale; rather, it's an ad-on-wheels for the limited-edition XL1 and Superleggera.