Category: Volkswagen

Following the news of Volkswagen’s recent prestigious Advertiser of the Year award I thought it was worth giving this YouTube clip an article of its own.

This is the “Horst Schlämmer Quest” campaign, a viral marketing series that created a storm for Volkswagen AG in 2007. Created by Tribal DDB Hamburg the campaign won Best in Show at 2008 Caples Awards.

The five minute clip above talks us through the campaign and gives a good insight into the success attainable by clever viral ideas that cut through into mainstream media.

At the recent Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival Volkswagen was named “Advertiser of the Year”. From the Cannes Lions press release Volkswagen was awarded the gong for “their continued inspiring and innovative marketing”.

The “Advertiser of the Year” is a special award that sits outside of the regular categories and is the highest honour in the advertising industry.

Volkswagen has been making its mark in the automotive advertising world for years, with the “Think Small” campaign (shown above) turning the genre, literally, on its head. The “Singing Dog” commercial was awarded Car Ad of the Year in an online poll last year. And “The Fight” has certainly attracted its fair share of attention in recent months.

More ad samples, print and TVCs, can be seen after the jump.

GoAuto brings us news that the Volkswagen Golf GTD has “been put on the backburner” by Volkswagen Australia.

The GTD is essentially a GTI-spec Golf, but powered by a 125kW 2.0 litre diesel engine. As such, VW Australia are running with the same rationale for not bringing the GTD here as they have for the Scirocco. Namely, the GTD could hurt GTI sales.

Australia did get the previous generation Mk5 Golf GT Sport TDI, which was a great drive. While the old GT Sport was also essentially a GTI in diesel form, the chassis tuning and suspension were different. The GTD, however, has the same chassis and suspension specs as the GTI.

All this said, I still can’t see the major problem for Volkswagen Australia here. Surely it’s a no brainer—JUST BRING THE CAR TO AUSTRALIA!

[Source: GoAuto]

You are looking at the Volkswagen Amarok. If you were to say ‘wolf’ while speaking Inuit, Volkswagen have reliably informed, that the word you would say is amarok. I think Duran Duran put it best…

In touch with the ground, I’m on the hunt I’m after you,
Scent and a sound, I’m lost and I’m found,
And I’m hungry like the wolf.

However, Stephan Schaller, CEO of the brand Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles doesn’t seem to care much for 1980s pop, so he said it like this, “This name fits to a tee the characteristics of our pickup, which will set new standards in its class. We took great care selecting this name, which can be used globally. The Amarok is meant to invoke positive associations in all relevant international markets and make a more convincing argument than its established competitors right from the start.”

The concept car, pictured above and after the jump, was on show at the Melbourne International Motor Show earlier this year. Formerly referred to as the plain old Pickup concept, or sometimes even the Robust, the car will be launched in South America first, before coming to Australia. No official dates have been announced for the Aussie launch, but pencil in late 2010 at this stage.

Volkswagen Germany have released pics of the new Golf Estate, or Variant, depending on what you want to call it. This is a facelift of the existing model and the externally the front end has been given a makeover to fit the Golf VI look. Equipment and specifications have also been given the once over to bring the model in line with the new Golf.

The rear tail light treatment and boot detailing aren’t the most successful design to come from Volkswagen. If you’d like a closer look, make sure you click the pictures to load a 2000px super image.

Everything else is, by and large, standard Golf fare. Although the massive sunroof is unique to the Estate, of course.

It is unlikely that the Golf Estate will be sold in Australia, however, there is a school of thought that this model gives a few hints as to the makeup of the next model Jetta.

Volkswagen will be premiering Golf GTI and Polo ‘Wörthersee 09’ concepts at the Austrian meet this weekend. The Golf GTI model is a new take on the regular car, while the Polo gives a few clues to how a Polo GTI might look.

Mechanically the Golf GTI ‘Wörthersee 09’ is identical to the regular Golf GTI, but it stands out from the pack due to its Firespark Metallic paint work and flashes of red adorned throughout the interior. The special 19″ black alloys also make a bold statement.

The Polo ‘Wörthersee 09’ is fitted with a rather tame 63kW 1.4 litre engine, so let’s do what Volkswagen have done and just ignore that aspect. The show car is painted in Flash Red and features twin black stripes along with 18″ ‘Budapest’ wheels.

Further Wörthersee goodies from Volkswagen include a SonyEricsson T700 GTI Edition mobile phone and the “Bobsy G2-3 pro GTI-Design” child seat. Yes, seriously.

Further detail and a few extra pics available after the jump.

Full details of the Scirocco R, based heavily on last year’s Studie R show car, have now been released. A quick snapshot reveals the Scirocco R will have 195kW/350Nm and will, somewhat disappointingly, be driven through the front wheels only. Let’s hope Volkswagen’s Haldex 4MOTION system is being reserved for the über GTI.

While the engine is effectively shared with the Audi S3, perhaps it is FWD that is responsible for the 0-100km/h time being almost a second slower than Audi’s quoted time, with the ‘Rocco covering the sprint in 6.5 seconds (6.4 for DSG).

That’s the crucial info out of the way. The material provided by Volkswagen is comprehensive, so rather than giving an overview here, why don’t you follow the jump and take in the extra pics and press release.

UPDATE 18 October: Three new pics added after the jump.

Breaking news courtesy of iMotor with information on a 265bhp/350Nm powered Scirocco R model. The hot ‘Roc will be revealed this weekend at the Wörthersee show Nürburgring 24 hour race.

The good news, as noted, is the addition of the Audi S3 engine to the sexy Scirocco. That means, bigger turbo, strengthened internals and high-pressure injectors, enough to boost power from the 2.0T four cylinder to around 200kW. The not so good news is that all that power will be driven through the front wheels only, with grip reliant on Volkswagen’s new XDS electronic diff, as seen in the Golf GTI. Six-speed manual and DSG transmissions will be available. The reworked body kit adds the required level of aggression, too.

Availability in Australia is uncertain at this stage, but let’s hope this is the model Volkswagen Australia needs to set the car apart from the GTI.

More detail and images on the Scirocco R will be added as it comes to hand.

[Source: iMotor]

UPDATE: Full details now available here.

If you’re waiting for the new Golf GTI to arrive in Australia and can’t hold back any longer then our friends at Volkswagen UK can help you pass the time.

Included here are a selection of images from the new GTI brochure. Of course, if you are desperate for GTI info you won’t want to make do with these skanky images, you’ll want to download the brochure for yourself. Thanks to Volkswagen UK you can!

The brochure doesn’t reveal too many secrets and merely confirms that the standard 17″ Denver alloy wheels really are ugly (see first image after the jump). They looked bad enough on the Mk5 GTI, but they’re even worse on the sharper edged Mk6 Golf body. If aftermarket wheels don’t light your fire, the 18″ Monza alloys (pictured above) get the AUSmotive tick of approval. The difference are subtle, I agree, but the extra size and polished surface gives the wheel the edge it needs.

There’s still nothing official from Volkswagen Australia in regards to local availability. However, some Sydney dealers are accepting pre-orders now. They’re advising customers to expect delivery as early as September-October this year. I’ll be amazed if that happens, but we will see.

If you want some wallpaper images to smarten up your PC then check out the AUSmotive Mk6 GTI image gallery.

[Thanks to Tom for the tip.]