Volkswagen Introduces the Golf Triumverate

September 27, 2012, 12:35 pm

By JERRY GARRETT

PARIS - Pop quiz: What is the highest-selling Volkswagen model of all time? If you guessed the Beetle, you would be wrong by about 8 million cars.

Volkswagen's top seller is the Golf, of which more than 29 million have been sold worldwide since its introduction in 1974, according to the automaker.

The Golf enters its seventh generation with the global introduction of the redesigned 2013 model on Thursday. The new Golf will go on sale here in November, but not in the United States until this time next year, prolonging an unfortunate tendency of leaving the company's American division out of step with the rest of the world.

“The Golf is the bedrock upon which our company is built,” Jonath an Browning, head of Volkswagen of America, said in a brief interview here, after the vehicle's introduction. “It has fathered a whole family of vehicles.”

Unlike the sixth-generation Golf, which was little more than a facelifted fifth-generation car, or MkV, as it was known in series, the latest version truly is all new. Mr. Browning said every aspect of the car was redesigned and upgraded.

Key improvements include a larger interior with extra rear legroom and more luggage space; upgraded safety systems, including a feature called multicollision braking; completely redesigned information and entertainment systems; a lower-weight, modular platform; and engines that sip an average of 18 percent less fuel.

“Our engineers have come up with a much improved vehicle, with a lot more standard features, without raising the price,” Mr. Browning said.

Along with the basic four-door hatchback, Volkswagen also unveiled a high-efficiency BlueMotion diesel prototype and a GTI concept, both “almost ready to go into full production,” VW noted.

The diesel-powered BlueMotion model, expected to enter production as early as next summer, was shown here with a new direct-injected, 1.6-liter turbodiesel 4-cylinder engine mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. VW said it was 15 percent more efficient than the model it would replace, improving highway fuel economy.

Fuel savings were also on the minds of the engineering team for the GTI concept. “The average fuel consumption has been reduced, in comparison to its predecessor, by about 18 percent,” the company noted. Powertrain and equipment details for the nominal concept were few, but the company noted the hot hatchback's engine, also unspecified, would generate 217 horsepower, a 17-horsepower bump over the 2-liter unit found in the MkVI GTI sold in the United States.