Volkswagen typically shies away from massive rebates, but tough sledding on the sales floor had led the German automaker to take drastic measures. All 2008 models can be had with 0% financing for a limited time, which should help VW dealers clear inventory before the '09 models arrive. The 0% deals vary in duration depending on the model, with most models receiving the special financing for 60 months. You can even get a GTI interest free for five years.
Almost every automaker is breaking the bank with incentives to keep declining sales and increased inventories in check. VW is one of the few automakers that fared fairly well in August sales, so something as drastic as 0% financing is a bit of a surprise. Given that the competition is doing it, though, the German automaker may just be keeping up with the Joneses. Thanks for the tip, Jay!
While we were in Virginia attending the inaugural race of the Jetta TDI cup series, Volkswagen provided us hacks with a some new Jetta Sportwagens with which to make the 45 minute morning and evening commute between the Berry Hill Inn and the race track. Like the last generation Jetta Wagon, the new Sportwagen is branded as a Jetta in North America because Jetta is Volkswagen's top-selling model here. The rest of the world, however, knows this estate-bodied Volkswagen as the Golf Variant. No matter, because the Golf/Rabbit and Jetta share all their important hardware and are, for all intents and purposes, the same car.
In typical fashion, the new Sportwagen has grown since the previous model was retired and is now nearly as big as the last-gen Passat wagon. My first impression upon climbing into the Sportwagen was how it felt nearly as roomy as the 2000 Passat wagon that resides in half of my garage at home. VW provided an assortment of cars with both 5-speed three-pedal and 6-speed two-pedal transmission arrangements. Unfortunately, all were paired with the base 2.5L inline five-cylinder engine. Check out my impressions of the new Jetta Sportwagen after the jump.
Click above for high-res gallery of race action from Jetta TDI Cup
The first race of the first all-diesel, road racing series in America took place this past weekend at VIRginia International Raceway, and we were there, or rather AutoblogGreen was there, to watch it go down. The gorgeous VIR long course proved to be a great setting for the opening round of Volkswagen's new Jetta TDI Cup series. The new series is both a continuation of VW's history of grassroots racing, as well as promotion for the new Jetta TDI that launches this summer. Volkswagen had an open casting call earlier this year for young amateur racing drivers and picked the 30 best to run in the promotional series. Prior to arriving at VIR for Friday's first practice, the drivers had one day of actual running in the Jettas during the driver selection process at the beginning of April. Though the Jetta TDI race cars were slightly modified from their production counterpart for safety reasons, they still managed to return 25 mpg... while racing.
With Volkswagen due to make a decision about the location of its first US factory in more than two decades, the next obvious question is what to build there? We had a chance to pose that very question to Steve Keyes, GM of Public Relations for VW of America. According to Steve, the driving force for the factory is two-fold. First and most obvious is the exchange rate issue. With dollar being worth less almost daily against the Euro, it's increasingly difficult for VW to price cars competitively, especially in the mainstream segments where it primarily competes. The second reason is capacity constraints at the Peubla, Mexico factory that builds VW's highest volume US product, the Jetta. VW of America has set a target tripling combined sales of Audi and VW within the next decade.
Meeting those sales goals will require a lot more vehicles to sell at a competitive cost. So the first products out of the plant will likely be the highest volume products, the Passat and Jetta. If the plant is set up to build Jettas, then it could relatively easily be adapted to build any other model that shares the Golf/Jetta platform. That could potentially mean products like the Scirocco and even the Audi TT. Will we see these? Probably not at first, but if demand warrants, it could happen. So if you are all really serious about wanting the Scirocco on US shores, you should start pestering the head office (which just moved to Virginia last week).
The new, fifty-state legal Jetta BlueTDI is finally done and it's coming soon. At the International Vienna Motor Symposium in Austria, Volkswagen announced that it's completed development on what they are calling the BlueTDI system for their US diesels. Like Mercedes (BlueTec) and BMW (BluePerformance), VW is adopting the Blue moniker for their cleanest, most efficient systems. The Jetta BlueTDI will be the first Tier2 Bin5 compliant diesels that doesn't have to use a urea injection system to meet the new NOx emissions standard. VW started with the updated 2.0L TDI that was launched in the European Tiguan last fall. Individual cylinder pressure sensors were added that allow the engine management system to optimize the fuel injection pulses to keep combustion temperatures down. That helped VW eliminate 60-percent of the NOx emissions before you even get to the exhaust stream. The exhaust gas flowing from the 2.0L engine are low enough that VW was able to use a lean NOx trap to convert the remaining NOx to nitrogen and water. However, the larger 3.0L V-6 TDI that is coming in the Touareg and Audi Q7 at the end of the year will have to use urea injection. In addition to the NOx trap, there is a particulate filter to eliminate the soot often associated with diesel engines. The new Jetta will be able to get up to 60mpg when cruising on the highway, a boost of 12-percent over the last US-market Jetta TDI from 2006. The Jetta BlueTDI should be the first of the new round of diesels to come to market when it arrives later this summer. The first batch of cars should actually start arriving at US dealers in June, where they will be available for test drives through the summer before going on sale in September.
Click above to view high-res gallery of the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta 2.5 SE
"I think we're gonna have to buy a Volkswagen," I told me wife just hours after signing for the keys to a 2008 Jetta 2.5 SE. I had only done about four miles in the car and, already, the near-luxury interior and throaty exhaust had won me over.
But my wife was skeptical of a sedan's ability to handle the needs of our pack-rat family even if it did have 170 horses. So I drove the handsome little VW a couple of days more before turning it over to her for toddler-toting duty. I felt sure she'd see the positives of German engineering by week's end.
Click the image above for a gallery of high-res shots of the Jetta TSI Racer.
The chosen chariot for the new Volkswagen Racing Cup is a Jetta sporting a 1.4-liter supercharged and turbocharged TSI producing 226 hp, the same mill that won the Best New Engine of 2006 at the International Engine of the Year Awards. Power is sent though a six-speed manual gearbox to a limited slip differential and on down to 18-inch BBS wheels fitted with 225/40 Hankook tires. Exhaust gases are expelled through a race-spec unit, while slowing the 2,690-pound racer is done through a set of 360mm vented discs with 12-pot calipers.
It's a very trick setup that we can't wait to see campaigned during the 2008 season, so expect some reports from the grid later this year. Make the jump for the official press release.
Volkswagen has been struggling here in the US, but in emerging markets the German automaker is among the best. VW has been a big player in China since way before it was cool, and now Mr. Winterkorn and co. are focusing their attention on the booming India market. VW is planning on producing 240,000 vehicles per year in India by 2012, and it's using two small cars to supply much of the volume. The size and price of the Polo compact and the upcoming Up! minicar are perfect for the India market, and Europe's largest automaker plans on building both vehicles at its new plant in Chakan. Up! will go head to head with its low-cost Indian market competition with a price tag in the $7,500 price range.
The Passat has already been on sale in India since November, the next generation Jetta and the ultra-luxury Phaeton are scheduled to hit India's VW dealerships in the next couple years. With VW's vast expertise making and selling its cars in low-cost markets, the company that created the original Beetle has a great chance to make hay in the land of Gandhi and the Taj Mahal.
When Volkswagen unveiled its new 50 state-certified Jetta 2.0L Clean Diesel TDI back in January, the company line was that the car would be available in the spring of 2008. We've been impatiently waiting because we're excited by the prospect of diesel engines penetrating the U.S. market again, and no other vehicle could do more for the cause than the relatively inexpensive Jetta TDI. Now comes word from the TDI Club forums that the diesel sedan will be further delayed until late summer 2008 because of a "technical issue that was found during the later stages of durability testing."
The news comes via an email sent by VW to its dealers, who are reportedly disappointed that they'll have to wait even longer for this highly anticipated car. Brandweek cites one dealer who claims that three out of every five calls he receives is about the Jetta TDI.
The fact is, the U.S. now has the strictest emissions standards for diesel powerplants, and if an automaker wants to sell its diesel-powered vehicle in all 50 states, it has to meet the even stricter standards set forth by the California Air Resources Board. The complexity that must be involved to achieve this feat is likely considerable, especially without the use of a urea injection system. Hopefully, it'll be worth the wait.
The Wall Street Journal has confirmed what's been alluded to in the past, but this time, it's from the top. Volkswagen's CEO Martin Winterkorn plans to price its U.S. offerings more aggressively in a bid to better compete with the likes of Toyota.
Currently, the Jetta starts around $17,000, while a comparable (?) Corolla is about $2k less. Same goes for the Passat and Camry segment, where the VW's mid-size sedan has close to a $4,000 premium over its Toyota counterpart.
Interestingly, Winterkorn admits, "We have definitely added too many technical items that (American) customers don't want to pay for." What those particular features are escapes us, but as long as they work, that's all that matters.
Volkswagen typically shies away from massive rebates, but tough sledding on the sales floor had led the German automaker to take drastic measures. All 2008 models can be had with 0% financing for a limited time, which should help VW dealers clear inventory before the '09 models arrive. The 0% deals vary in duration depending on the model, with most models receiving the special financing for 60 months. You can even get a GTI interest free for five years.
With Volkswagen due to make a decision about the location of its first US factory in more than two decades, the next obvious question is what to build there? We had a chance to pose that very question to Steve Keyes, GM of Public Relations for VW of America. According to Steve, the driving force for the factory is two-fold. First and most obvious is the exchange rate issue. With dollar being worth less almost daily against the Euro, it's increasingly difficult for VW to price cars competitively, especially in the mainstream segments where it primarily competes. The second reason is capacity constraints at the Peubla, Mexico factory that builds VW's highest volume US product, the Jetta. VW of America has set a target tripling combined sales of Audi and VW within the next decade. 
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