Filed under: Economy, Euro, Volkswagen, SEAT
Entry-level, RWD vehicles coming from VW in 2010
More news on the microcar front comes in the form of "confidential planning documents" procured by Automobilwoche outlining Volkswagen's plan for its rear-wheel-drive compacts over the next nine years. VW considers the launch of its new "Small Family" lineup of RWD vehicles as the most important launch since the Beetle was fazed out in favor of the Golf in 1974.
Production of the new minicars will being in 2010, likely utilizing the Skoda plant in Vrchlabi, within the Czech Republic, with 100,000 vehicles destined for Europe sporting the Volkswagen badge, and another 100,000 wearing Skoda and Seat logos. Variants of the uber-compact three-door are expected to come in at about 3500mm long, sporting a price tag under €8,000, with a five-door version, stretched by 80mm and priced around €9,450.
[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Random Task 10:34AM (10/15/2007)
These cars will handle awesome until they Volkswagen and end up on a flatbed trailer. Mein leiben!
Reply
montie walker 11:12AM (10/15/2007)
i know you won't believe this...but i have a new honda accord and i HATE it! it is so low and you feel every bump in the road! just a cheaply made car. had five maxima before this and what a difference! ride and sound. never another honda!
Reply
Jt 1:08PM (10/15/2007)
Did you test drive the Accord before you bought it? If these problems were as significant as you make them out to be, one would think that they would be fairly obvious during a test drive.
Justin 8:43AM (10/16/2007)
Agreed with JT.
I'm also curious what that has to do with this article.
Plus I test drove an Accord...didn't notice the problems you're talking about. Why would you forsake the 5 previous cars you had without so much as a test drive? Idiot.
Calguy 11:17AM (10/15/2007)
One good thing.. from what I've read, the current Skodas seem to top the European consumer ratings -much as Toyota/Honda/Lexus have here. Maybe these will be the well-built VWs we've all been itching for.
Reply
psarhjinian 12:02PM (10/15/2007)
So, we're talking RWD in the same sense as the Smart car, not the BMW 3-Series. A small, rear-mounted engine driving the rear wheels.
This means no trunk space and rear seats only if you're lucky.
Reply
Mike 12:18PM (10/15/2007)
That's a popular configuration in European mini's though. VW should be able to succeed at it. They should have focused on this segment long ago instead of trying to go luxury...
nagmashot 4:02PM (10/15/2007)
the engine´s are placed under the trunk... there is a normal trunk in the smart is able to carry more beer as you can drink at one evening :)
http://www.smart-club.de/smart-photos/photosammlung/ps085-4.jpg
beer transport :p
psarhjinian 8:17PM (10/15/2007)
I should clarify: I like the Smart, and it handles well in a go-kart sort of way, but this car isn't going to be a sports sedan for the masses. Almost bought one before child #1 showed up.
The Smart format is one of the rare mainstream/econocar rear-drive implementations that makes more sense then a front-driver. If you scale up a size (and move the engine forward, which you need to do to have decent space behind the rear seats), though, front-drive starts to have serious packaging advantages.
John 12:03PM (10/15/2007)
About time !
Reply
CMDR 1:43PM (10/15/2007)
OH SWEET! A rwd car for people without legs. Maybe this car in the picture was designed for the armless & legless fella who was driving drunk with his mouth.
Reply
rgseidl 1:45PM (10/15/2007)
@ psarhjinian -
the three-banger in the Up! concept is located in the rear but it lies flat and it is water-cooled - the radiator is up front. VW haven't announced the engine's displacement yet, but three-bangers don't make sense much above 1000cc.
There are two rear seats and some cargo space both front and rear. It won't match a BMW 1-series for performance, but for EUR 8000, what do you expect?
The initial focus is on high affordability, at the time of purchase and in operation (incl. high fuel economy). However, since there will be a whole New Small Family of products built off this architecture, it's a fair bet that sooner or later there'll be a substantially more expensive sports variant (R10?) - just because it's fairly easy to do and there is always a market for more power.
Based on recent research at the TU Dresden, 100kW/L and 200Nm/L are feasible in a three-banger featuring sequential turbos. For a car that is only ~3.5m long and likely to weigh just ~1000kg, that would anyhow be about as much as you could safely handle.
Reply
captainkarl 1:55PM (10/15/2007)
8000 euros isn't super cheap at $11,348 USD.
Reply
Steve B. 3:55PM (10/15/2007)
When I was in Europe in 2005, the € was trading at around €1/$1.15. In 2006, it was €1/$1.25. Now it's north of $1.40!
Back in 2005, this would've been a $9,200. Back in the 2001-2 timeframe, you'd have only been looking at $7300 or so.
Welcome to the world of the American Peso!
This is indeed a cheap car... The dollar is just circling the crapper. Still, this is going to greatly hurt the European makers in selling to US customers... Think of what a VW cost 5 years ago. Who wants to pay a 40% premium on that? Does VW want to just eat the losses?
On the other hand, it'll be a great help to both the American companies, and to Japanese and Chinese producers whose currency is pegged to the dollar, when it comes to selling to €-peans.
Dave B 2:42PM (10/15/2007)
the smart is going to be $12,000 when it's releaed in the states, so the price of $11,348 is not suprising. Most of these new super small cars will probably be a bit over $10,000 for a few years.
Reply
Colin Smith 5:00PM (10/15/2007)
VW might manufacture them in the US if the labour is cheaper, as with Skoda in the low(er) wage Czech Republic.
Fiat builds cars in low wage Poland, and Turkey too, and this is in large part to feed the local markets.
Reply
Colin Smith 5:12PM (10/15/2007)
That was a crap post.
I think I meant that it might be cheaper to build the things in the US if the costs made this sensible. But little cars are never going to work in the US with its huge distances and suburban urbanisms.
Suburban urbanism? I'll quit for now...brain malfunction...
Calebe 6:39PM (10/15/2007)
Bring it to the USA for $8000 and it will be a hit. More than that and people will buy the fire sale Hyundai accents and Kia rios that go for $9995 on dealer clearance.
Reply
SPG 6:48PM (10/15/2007)
This should be really interesting.
I can't wait to see how that pans out if these cars come to Canada.
As in the first icy winter.
Other then that, awesome!
Reply
psarhjinian 8:20PM (10/15/2007)
I can't see them being any worse than the Smart was. I had a Smart out for a test drive the Kawarthas in winter (snow tires, mind you) and it did pretty well.
Skinny snow tires make any car into a snow demon, regardless of drive wheels.