Tag: Volkswagen

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Volkswagen

Golf VI brochure and pricing (UK market)

Golf VI - UK brochure cover image

The new Golf VI has recently started Germany deliveries, with the UK expecting to get their hands on the Golf VI in January 2009. While nothing has been confirmed, Australian customers will probably need to wait until around the middle of 2009 for local release.

In the meantime, you can check the detail of the right-hand drive models by checking out the new brochure and pricing PDFs from Volkswagen UK (thanks to Craig for the tip).

Current driveaway pricing for the new UK range starts at £13,150 for the 1.4 litre 3-door Golf S, up to £20,980 for a Golf GT 2.0 TDI, with 6 speed DSG. The new 7 speed DSG transmission is available in the following models: Golf S 1.6 5-door; Golf S 1.4 TSI 5-door; Golf SE 5-door 1.4 TSI; and Golf GT 1.4 TSI 5-door.

PDF downloads
Golf VI – UK brochure (3.7mb)  |  Golf VI – UK pricing (300kb)

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Volkswagen

For sale: RHD VW Touareg W12

RHD Volkswagen Touareg W12

No AUSmotive isn’t turning into carsales, but when a one of a kind comes up for sale, well, you might want to know about it. This is the world’s only right-hand drive Touareg W12. Built by Volkswagen Individual as a test mule for a possible limited release to the Singapore market. Those plans have since been shelved and the car is up for sale to RHD markets the world over.

The Touareg W12 has been priced at €90,000 (inclusive of worldwide shipping). That’s around AU$175,000 on current exchange rates, plus the likely taxes once the car gets to Australia.

The Touareg W12 is currently available in some LHD markets and for your troubles you get a 12-cylinder ‘W’ engine that produces a tidy 331kW of power, with a none too shabby 599Nm of torque.

For more information and a full build sheet, contact OEMpl.us.

Source: VWvortex

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Volkswagen

Volkswagen ‘singing dog’ commercial wins online poll

Volkswagen UK’s ‘Polo confidence’ television commercial has been named ‘Car Ad of the Year’ by Autocar magazine. Also known as the ‘singing dog’ ad, the 30 second piece won a public vote conducted by Autocar online. The ad was created by DDB London and features a Jack Russell miming along to the Spencer Davis Group hit I’m a man. It’s pretty cool.

Source: Volkswagen via Automoto Portal

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BMW News Volkswagen

Golden Steering Wheel Awards for BMW and Volkswagen

Golf VI wins Golden Steering Wheel Award

The BMW 1 Series Coupé and the Volkswagen Golf VI have both joined Audi’s Q5 in the Golden Steering Wheel winners circle. The Golden Steering Wheel Awards, run by German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, were founded by Axel Springer 33 years ago and have been awarded every year since.

An expert jury from Bild am Sonntag honoured the best new releases of the year, among them the 6th generation Golf, for a “superior win in the compact class”.

“The win of four categories confirms that the whole Group took the right course. We offer an incomparable spectrum of models and an enormous variation of design and technology. We make the perfect cars for everyone”, says Prof. Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the Board of management at Volkswagen AG.

BMW’s result was based on a readers’ poll in which the 1 Series Coupé two-door received 26.4 per cent of a total of the 220,000 plus votes cast. Australian buyers have also been enamoured with the two-door BMW coupé since it went on sale in May, with over 500 customer deliveries.

A BMW TV commercial likewise won first prize in the 2008 Golden Steering Wheel. The ad, for the Night Vision system on the 5 Series, can be seen below in a clip from BMW-web.tv, which also includes a brief interview with Ian Robertson, Board Member for Sales and Marketing.

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Drive Thru Reviews Skoda

Drive Thru: Skoda Octavia RS

Skoda Octavia RS

Imagine you have your (affordable) dream car and love the joy it brings you. Whether that’s behind the wheel, or simply admiring the gentle shoulder line of its three-door shape. Your car has oodles of torque that make it a delight to drive. There’s enough power to have fun, but not too much to be stupid. Fuel economy, too, is quite good, if you want it to be.

Life is good.

Then, imagine you have to sell the car you enjoy so much! Not because of financial or other outside influences, but simply because impending fatherhood is about to render that svelte three-door shape a bit too impractical for its own good.

This is a predicament a mate of mine recently faced, and while his initial quandary gave him a little displeasure, it’s nice to know that everyone looks like living happily ever after.

Steve’s dream car was his Mk5 Golf GTI (pictured below). Like myself (or my wife that should be), as soon as the three-door option for the GTI was announced by Volkswagen Australia in late 2006, he took his chance to buy the perfect complement to his near mint condition 1985 UK-spec Mk2 Golf GTI. A few months later, when his new car arrived, the first in the country in United Grey paintwork, he was smitten.

If the GTI had to go, then what would prove to be an adequate compromise between driving enjoyment and family-friendly Sunday outings? Given the picture and title at the start of this post, it’s no surprise that Steve opted for a Skoda Octavia RS sedan.

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Seat

SEAT León Linea R

SEAT Leon Linea R

It’s fresh, it’s funky, it’s fast, and its not available in Australia! This is the SEAT León Linea R. Okay, so the Linea R range is not much more than a fancy body kit, and it’s only fast if you tick the 147kW 2.0 TSI engine option from the three choices available—but it does look the business. The other engines have been raided from the VAG parts bin and include the 125kW 2.0 TDI (as seen in the Golf GT) and the 118kW 1.8 TSI (as seen in the Audi A4).

The León Linea R also gets a bunch of goodies thrown in such as 18″ ‘Supercopa’ alloys, dual zone climate control, TCS (traction control), ESP and, of course, the funky body kit, complete with Linea R badging.

While the exterior of the León Linea R makes you take notice, the inside is not quite up to Golf standards. It looks sporty enough, but the fine detail is just not there and the low placement of the Sat Nav unit is questionable, to say the least. Never mind that, SEAT’s generally drive just as well as their Volkswagen cousins, and normally offer more bang, for less buck. You gotta be happy with that!

Continue reading “SEAT León Linea R”
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Safety Issues Volkswagen

Volkswagen Golf VI earns five-star crash rating

Volkswagen Golf VI

The new Volkswagen Golf VI recently achieved 36 from a possible 37 points in Euro NCAP occupant protection crash testing. This result earned the upcoming model a five-star safety rating. Pedestrian testing, however, was not quite as outstanding, with a more moderate three-star rating awarded to the Golf VI.

Featuring seven airbags, including knee protection, the new Golf range will also include an Electronic Stabilisation Programme (ESP) as standard equipment across the model range.

Full press statement form Volkswagen Australia shown below.

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Volkswagen

2009 Volkswagen Golf GTI at the Paris Motor Show

The Paris Motor Show was the official reveal for the MkVI Golf GTI Concept. Here’s a couple of short YouTube clips from CARandDRIVER.com (above) and Edmunds InsideLine (after the jump) filmed in Paris. There’s nothing really new in these clips, but it’s still good to get a closer look at what is shaping to be another great GTI from Volkswagen.

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Volkswagen

Exclusive: Volkswagen Passat CC – Australian pricing

Volkswagen Passat CC

The stunning Volkswagen Passat was revealed to Australian audiences today at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney. The Passat CC (Comfort Coupé) will be launched in Australia early next year. It will be initially available with a 125kW 2.0 TDI and a 220kW V6 petrol engine (as seen in the Passat R36). Volkswagen’s media release from today is shown below, along with more images, but something AUSmotive can reveal, which is not shown in the media statement, is the list pricing for the two models. The front-wheel drive 2.0 TDI will start at $54,990 and the V6 4MOTION will be priced from $64,990. (Note: The V6 pricing may be affected now that the Luxury Car Tax has been passed.) Both models will come equipped with 6 speed DSG transmissions. There will be no manual option available.

The 4.8m long Passat CC will hit the market with an impressive list of standard features, such as heated leather seats (front and back), ESP, eight airbags, front and rear parking distance sensors and Adaptive Chassis Control.

With those looks, that pricing and a well appointed standard specification, expect the Passat CC to establish a niche for itself very quickly.

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Porsche Volkswagen

Porsche wants full control of Volkswagen before Christmas

Porsche & Volkswagen logosWell, before December actually. Porsche will hold present their annual results to the media on 26 November, and if they have their way between now and then they will have increased their stake in Volkswagen to an “absolute majority”.

This Sydney Morning Herald article explains a few of the hurdles Porsche still has to resolve before being able to fulfill their lofty ambitions. The major stumbling block is the Lower Saxony government’s blocking vote—despite only controlling 20.1 per cent of the stock. The European Commission is involved and back in July, when assessing any likely competition issues, they declared “Porsche will continue to face several strong, effective competitors”.

With just over 35 per cent of Volkswagen shares, Porsche already has effective control of the company, however formalising the majority shareholding is becoming more acrimonious by the day. Volkswagen objects to Porsche’s wish to gain access to Audi technology and is doing all it can to stand in the way of what is most probably an inevitable takeover.

Whatever happens, it is fascinating viewing and considering the possible permutations of technology and platform sharing certainly whets the appetite.

Source: Reuters, autoblog & SMH

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News

Toyota falls as Volkswagen claims world’s ‘most valuable’ tag

Volkswagen logoAccording to a report at Bloomberg.com Toyota’s market value has fallen, while Volkswagen’s has risen, on the back of strong market growth, due, in part, to Porsche’s increasing financial interests in the German auto giant. The Bloomberg article states, “Toyota declined 4.9 percent to 3,710 yen, the lowest since March 2004, at the 3 p.m. close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, giving it a giving it a market capitalization of $124.3 billion.”

On current exchange rates Volkswagen’s value sits at US$127.5 billion. Amazingly, Toyota’s value has dropped over 55% since its market peak in February 2007. Whereas Volkswagen achieved its highest stock market values in mid September. The drop in Toyota’s worth follows a 32% drop in US sales, where it is still the market leader.

Source: Bloomberg via autoblog

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Volkswagen

Volkswagen MkVI Golf GTI driving footage

Video footage of the next generation 2009 Golf GTI has recently emerged on YouTube. The clip itself is not the most inspiring video ever made, but fans of the iconic GTI will be welcome this footage all the same. For more on the new GTI read this previous AUSmotive article.