Category: VW

Following the recently-delivered 25 millionth Golf, Volkswagen marks a new milestone with the 15 millionth car produced in the Emden factory. The car is a silver Passat Variant BlueMotion 1.9 TDI 105 bhp which was donated to the DKMS (German Bone Marrow Donor Center).

The Passat has been built in 13 factories worldwide but the milestone is also a special one for the Emden plant. Of the 15 million Passats, 5.9 million were made there. Inaugurated in 1964, the factory started to produce the Passat in 1977.

If we take into account the date when the 14 millionth Passat was delivered, October 2006, the 20 millionth mark will be passed in 5 years at the current pace.

According to Automotive News, Volkswagen is working on a 10-year strategy plan that aims to catch up with the Japanese carmaker. Backed by Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn wants to close the gap between both carmakers. Although at a draft stage, the plan will focus on increasing sales and improving productivity.

It is likely that Martin Winterkorn will try to follow the same plan he set at Audi to boost productivity and sales a few years ago. Dubbed internally as “Route 15”, the plan intended to boost global sales beyond 1.5 million by 2015. In order to achieve such a goal, the German carmaker decided to sales in China, the fastest growing auto market, and in the US. Also it planned to add 15 new models to the current range by 2015.

In 2006 Volkswagen Group produced 5,685,000 cars while Toyota delivered 8,036,000 vehicles on the same period.Toyota is looking to sell 10.4 million vehicles around the world in 2009. In other worlds, Volkswagen needs to double sales by 2018. Compared with Toyota, Volkswagen has room for manoeuvre. It is still a small player on the American market. Last year, Toyota enjoyed its best year ever in 2006, selling 2,220,090 vehicles, while Volkswagen’s U.S. sales dropped 34 percent, to 235,140 vehicles, from 2000 to 2006. There is also room for improvement in China where Audi leads the luxury market. Volkswagen is also working on a low cost car. Due to be unveiled at the next Frankfurt Motor Show in less than a week, the car will enable Volkswagen Group to expand sales in emerging countries.

The German group is also likely to add new models to its brands while sharing components between them. At a time when niche markets have the fastest growing demand, Volkswagen move is a smart one but other carmakers have the same idea. While the latters only have one brand to manage, Volkswagen must share the niche markets between Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen and Porsche. That is, unless Martin Winterkorn has found the magic potion…

Despite its struggle to survive, Proton and its owners, the Malaysian state, are handling difficult negotiations over a buyout, with Volkwagen the only bidder. According to some Malaysian newspapers, Proton, whose situation is becoming worse by the day, is now a bit more conciliatory towards Volkswagen.

The biggest stumbling block was the stake demanded by Volkswagen. The German carmaker asked for 51% while Proton refused to offer more than 49%. Finally, a new company will be set up with 51% owned by the German carmaker. This new company will hold the Proton assets. In exchange, Volkswagen will bring its technical knowledge in the form of platforms and engines for future models. It will also take charge of the Proton distribution network worldwide, while Proton will keep its network in Malaysia.

Here is a funny video of Volkswagen engineers testing cars in the kind of silly situations encountered by drivers every day. Together with the German music, it is makes entertaining viewing.

Remember the time when the Polo was the black sheep of the Volkswagen family? Well, those days is over. For the next Polo generation, Volkswagen harbours great ambition. It wants to cover as many segments as the leading Peugeot 207. To do this, it plans to expand the Polo range with a coupé, a convertible and a MPV variant.

While the coupé and the convertible will compete with the Peugeot 207 CC, the MPV will fight with the Lancia Musa and the Peugeot 207 SW. Volkwagen will feature unknown technology for the small car segment such as the DSG gearbox and a possible hybrid version. The former will be available with in a sporty version, dubbed GTI, and will be coupled with the 170hp petrol engine. The latter will not be a full hybrid system due to the high cost this would entail, but will make use of technology similar to that used in BMW’s EfficientDynamics.

Due to be launched in 2009, expect the car to move upmarket in order to make some room for the low cost car that Volkswagen will unveil at the next Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

Source: Motor Authority

According to the Germancarblog website, Volkswagen will unveil a low cost car at the next Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Due to be sold in 2009, the car will have a price of less than £5,300/€8,000/$11,000. The car will be sold first under the VW badge and then under the Skoda and Seat badges. The Volkswagen variant will feature improved equipment, including air conditioning and a CD player. It will retain the carmaker’s typical look and feel, which customers have come to expect.

It is well known that Volkswagen is working on a low cost car. The project started at the Skoda offices in February 2005. Originally the launch target was in the first trimester of 2006. However, this low cost car brings with it question. Beyond the technical questions, the main area of uncertainty is the impact on the Volkswagen’s brand image. How do you sell a Phaeton at the top of the range when you sell a low cost car as an entry-model. The Logan saloon may serve as a lesson for the German carmaker: it is sold under the Dacia brand on Western markets in order to avoid damaging Renault’s brand image. Conversely, the Logan is sold under the Renault badge in emerging countries thanks to its good brand image on those markets.

According to Automotive news, VW will sell a saloon designed and built in China on the American market in coming years.

This is a big step for Volkswagen China. The company usually only designs and builds cars for the Chinese market. It would not be capable of breaking into the global market alone (did i get the wrong meaning here?). The parent company Volkswagen AG will lend a hand by leading the technical developments while Volkswagen China will be responsible for the car’s exterior and interior styling. Despite being sold on both the Chinese and American markets, the saloon will offer the same design as Volkswagen studies have shown American and Chinese consumers to have similar tastes. However, there will be some differences in the smaller details. The Chinese version will feature a more luxurious interior. It will replace the current Passat Lingyu. On the American market, the saloon will be sold as an entry-level model.

With this collaboration, Volkswagen hopes to mix the best of what its German offices can offer, highly valuable technical knowledge, with the advantage of its Chinese offices’, cheap manufacturing. By doing this, they hope to be able to succeed on the competitive global market.

Here are the first spyshots of the future Scirocco hatchback, due to be launched in 2009. Based on the concept car unveiled at the latest Paris Motor Show in September 2006, the production car preserves the general design. The aggressive face of the concept car will be kept and will be a further step towards Volkswagen’s new identity, initiated by the head of Volkswagen design Walter Da Silva.

According to insiders, Martin Winterkorn asked that the back end be redesigned when he took position as Volkswagen Group CEO last January. The concept car back end will have a less tortured style.

The hatchback coupé is based on the EOS convertible. As yet, no information have been given regarding a possible open top Scirocco. The plan is for the car to be sold in Europe, and it may not make it to the American market.

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Source Photo: KGP Photography

According to Auto, Motor und Sport, Volkswagen is currently working on a new logo. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apparently thinks it is time to refresh the company’s logo to reflect the new direction that the German carmaker is taking.

According to insiders, the new logo will be bigger, the letters will be separated from the circle and Volkswagen will use 3D technology to design it.

The German group has announced records sales figures for the 2007 semester. It built 3.09 million cars, an increase of 7.8 percent over the same period last year.

1.62 million vehicles were sold in Western Europe while 238,000 cars found a buyer in Central and Eastern Europe. The figure for Central and Eastern Europe is 22.8 percent more than last year. Germany is still its biggest market with 515,000 delivered vehicles but its supremacy will soon be contested by China, since VW group sold 431,000 cars there in the first 6 months.

The American continent took delivery of 662,000 cars. South America rose by 27.7 percent to reach 339,000 cars. The deliveries in Brazil alone grew by 28.6 percent to 260,000 vehicles. This is considerably more than in the U.S. where low growth was registered with 163,000 delivered vehicles.

Concerning the brands of the group, Volkswagen is obviously the biggest, with 1.8 million delivered cars. This is an increase of 7.4% over the same period last year. The biggest growth has been made by Lamborghini, which delivered 1,200 cars, a 29.7 percent jump. Bentley ranks second with a strong 18.8 percent increase and 5,600 vehicles. Skoda has the most impressive growth with a gain of 13.2 percent and 311,000 delivered cars. Audi delivered 509,000 cars. Only Seat saw its sales decrease, by 1.8 percent to 222,000 vehicles.