New Volkswagen Golf Mark 6 Revealed!

New VW Golf Mk 6 Revealed!

These sensational new pictures have been leaked onto the internet weeks ahead of the official Volkswagen launch of the new Golf. Due early 2009, the images show that Volkswagen have, as usual, taken the evolutionary approach, keeping the same overall shape and introducing a front end similar to that of the new Scirocco to the car, which will be the new corporate 'look' for VW, and will eventually find its way onto the new VW Polo and Passat when they come up for renewal. With the Golf being one of Europe's top selling cars for several generations, it's easy to see why they would take a conservative approach.




Side and rear views show the Golf keeps its strong C Pillar above the rear wheels, and has rear light clusters not to dissimilar to those on the recently introduced Tiguan 4x4 model, while overall length and width should be close to the current mark 5 Golf.



Interior space should also be similar to the current range, with the quality of the interior materials being upgraded to more soft feel plastics, higher quality switchgear taken from other models, and the recently upgraded VW touch screen satellite navigation will be optional.

The Mark 6 VW Golf was rushed into production early by Volkswagen after issues over the production costs of the current Mark 5, and this could mean that Volkswagen modifies or scraps its expensive rear suspension set up from the multi-link version introduced in the Mark 5 to combat the poor handling qualities of earlier Golf models when compared to rivals such as the Ford Focus, and reverts back to the cheaper torsion beam set up - something that Honda recently did with the latest Civic. Here at Volkswagen Cars Blog we hope not, as the sharper handling of the latest version, particularly in models like the GTI has helped bring the Golf back to the top of the tree in recent years.

Volkswagen Bigger Than Ford!

Volkswagen Overtakes Ford In Global Sales

Volkswagen have leap-frogged ford in the global sales rankings to be labelled as the worlds 3rd largest car manufacturer based on car sales. According to recent figures for the first half of 2008, Volkswagens global sales rose 7.2% to 3.31 million cars and trucks, while Ford sales dropped 11% to 3.09 million units.

Ford used to be number 2 in the world until 5 years ago when it was overtaken by Toyota. Now it's fallen to 4th place as American sales have dropped drastically due to the credit crunch and petrol has risen strongly on the back of higher oil prices. These have combined to hit hit sales of the large SUV's and pick-ups, a traditional market for Ford. The F150, for years the biggest selling vehicle in the U.S. has been overtaken by the small fuel efficient Honda Civic.

Ford volumes also dropped due to recent sales of Jaguar, Land Rover to Tata motors, and to a lesser extent Aston Martin, who all contributed to overall sales numbers. Company boss Allan Mulally has said Ford will put more emphasis on selling more efficient vehicles, whilst VW has revealed some ambitious plans to increase growth in the American markets by building a factory in Tennessee - see our earlier story:

Volkswagen To Start Production In US

VW Up! Concept Could Switch To Front Drive

The Up! concept car, which Volkswagen had vowed to bring to market as its next range of affordable small cars replacing the current VW Fox may have to be completely redesigned from its initial rear engined, rear drive packaging to a more conventional front engined, front wheel drive, VW insiders have revealed.

The Up! was first shown last year at several motorshows, with a 3 cylinder engine cleverly mounted under the rear seats, and driving the rear wheels directly. This radical packaging allowed the car its diminutive size, with great amounts of passenger room despite its small dimensions, but may all have to change.

The reported problems seem to be based on 2 key issues, firstly the novel packaging of the car is proving more difficult and costly to engineer than first anticipated, with issues sighting a radiator in the front of the car and pass coolant all the way to the rear.

Secondly, the rear weight bias has affected handling, especially at high speeds with crosswind stability, and VW is keen to avoid the negative press that dogged such cars as the A-Class which was slated at launch for being unstable after failing the 'Elk Test.'

The combination of these is threatening the very existence of the car, as relocating the engine to the nose would require heavy styling and packaging changes, with the original design initially praised for its purity and good looks.

Volkswagen To Start Production In The U.S.

Shortly after announcing that it could cease selling the VW Golf in North America, Volkswagen has unveiled plans to build a $1 billion U.S. production plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The site was decided on after a lengthy review of over 25 potential locations throughout the U.S. and was settled upon at a management board meeting at VW's wolfsburg head office in Germany on the 14th July, and will start production in 2011, with a production capacity of up to 150,000 cars anually, creating up to 2000 new jobs directly at the factory and another 2000 with suppliers and logistic partners.

Volkswagen Chairman Martin Winterkorn said "The US market is an important part of our volume strategy. Volkswagen will be extremely active there." Volkswagen has set out to quadruple its US sales with a strategy aimed at netting it over 800,000 sales there by 2018 – up from 329,000 in 2007.

Volkswagen's US division has posted heavy losses recently due to poor market conditions, and the strength of the Euro against the dollar, and this plant could negate this, as well as producing cars locally, specifically designed for the American market.

It is also hoped that US car buyers will come to think of locally produced cars as domestic products, akin to "buying American" and therefore supporting the countries economy, as they do for other brands with factories in the states such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda.