Friday, April 11th, 2008
The iconic Pirelli name is set to make a return to the Golf GTI range exactly 25 years after the original made its debut as the new Volkswagen Golf GTI Pirelli is launched in the UK.
Originally introduced in May 1983 the GTI Pirelli was based on the MkI Golf and featured the distinctive Pirelli ‘P’ alloy wheels. The vehicle proved to be an instant hit with its planned production run of just 10,500 vehicles selling out within six-months.
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Monday, April 7th, 2008
The Touareg range is set to benefit from the introduction of a revised 3.0-litre V6 TDI common rail diesel engine which promises to deliver greater refinement and a useful boost in power while returning higher fuel economy and emitting less CO2.
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
The most powerful Tiguan yet, equipped with a new 2.0-litre TDI 170 PS common rail diesel engine, has now been released for ordering. Combining greater torque than a Golf GTI with the efficiency, lower emissions and refinement you’d expect from a modern diesel, the Tiguan strikes a balance between performance and economy.
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Friday, March 7th, 2008
Volkswagen has revealed full details of its range-topping Touareg luxury 4×4 – the R50 – which offers customers more power and equipment, and boasts one of the most powerful diesel engines available on the market.
At the heart of the Touareg R50 is Volkswagen’s award-winning 5.0-litre V10 TDI engine, uprated from 313 PS to produce 350 PS at 3,500 rpm. Beyond the power output, the R50’s engine has also been given a substantial boost to produce an extra 100 Nm of torque: if the standard car’s 750 Nm was more than enough to enable the Touareg to tow a Boeing 747, pulling power of an enormous 850 Nm (627 lbs ft) sets the R50 yet further apart from the crowd.
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
The Scirocco’s back. Beneath striking new styling lies the most dynamic and technologically advanced production coupé Volkswagen has ever built.
Click for larger images
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Friday, February 29th, 2008
In unveiling the Passat Estate TSI EcoFuel concept – a car powered by either natural gas or conventional petrol – at the Geneva Show, engineers have combined the seemingly contradictory virtues of performance and economy.
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
Volkswagen’s latest track challenger, a supercharged and turbocharged Jetta saloon, was unveiled today (Thursday) in Britain.
The Jetta TSI Sport made its debut at the Autosport International racing car show at Birmingham’s NEC, taking centre stage on the British Racing and Sports Car Club stand. The new machine will take to the track for the first time on Easter Monday (24 March) in the opening round of the Hankook-backed Volkswagen Racing Cup, at Oulton Park.
(more…)
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
Round the world in 14 weeks: before their group appearance at the 2007 Bologna Motor Show, Volkswagen sent the New Small Family on a whistle-stop tour around the world. Today it’s showdown in Italy as the three Up! concept vehicles are revealed side by side for the first time as ambassadors of a new range and as a family.
“For both my team and for me, it was a dream to design these concept vehicles” confirmed Walter de Silva, Chief Designer of Volkswagen Group, at the start of the press conference, “because these cars embody the emergence of a new era. Anyone looking at the New Small Family will immediately see how friendly and neat these Volkswagens are. Cars of this sort are fun. No explanation is needed - they speak for themselves.”
Before their joint debut in Bologna, Volkswagen sent the New Small Family on a whistle-stop tour around the world, starting at the IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt on 10 September with the two-door Up!. Just six weeks later, the larger Space Up! microvan made its debut in Tokyo – they impressively demonstrate how every millimetre of space can be exploited using intelligent packaging while at the same time creating an emotional design. Twenty days later and 9,000 air kilometres further eastwards, Los Angeles was presented with the third variant of the New Small Family – the zero-emission Space Up! Blue van. The response was extremely positive all around the globe.
That was perhaps also “because every Up! also demonstrates commitment to protecting our environment” according to Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Board Member with responsibility for Technical Development at Volkswagen. “After all, extremely clean petrol and diesel engines and electric motors will be working in the backs of these cars.”
Posted in Concept, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
January’s Dakar Rally promises to be the toughest yet for the Volkswagen works team and its squad of TDI-powered Race Touaregs, for the 30th running of the world’s toughest motorsport event will be longer and more arduous than ever.
Special stage distance has been lengthened by a third over last year, to 5,736 km (3,562 miles), with the treacherous sand dunes of Mauritania set to provide much of the drama during the 16-day trek from Lisbon, Portugal, to the Senegalese capital of Dakar.
Volkswagen will field four works cars – for Spaniard Carlos Sainz, South African Giniel de Villiers, Germany’s Dieter Depping and American Mark Miller – while a fifth Race Touareg will be run by customer team Lagos and driven by Portugal’s Carlos Sousa. Volkswagen is bidding to become the first manufacturer to win the legendary classic with a diesel car.
Newly crowned FIA Cross-Country Rally World Champion Sainz says the 2008 Dakar will be his most arduous yet: ‘It will be longer, tougher and more difficult. We expect lots of sand dunes and there will be two cross-country legs after which we will be allowed no assistance from mechanics.’
Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen added: ‘At almost 6,000 timed kilometres we are in for a very long event, and many days will be spent in the dunes of Mauritania. It will be a great challenge but also a great strain: the drivers and co-drivers will be spending many hours in the cars on the long stages, which means the team will not be able to start work on the cars until late in the evening.’
He believes that the team has a good chance of success following recent tests and promising results in the UAE Desert Challenge in early November, in which Volkswagens finished second and third: ‘We drove a lot on sand on this event and it confirmed that we have achieved notable improvements on this type of terrain.’
‘In Mauritania the rally will return to locations that have not been used on the rally for more than a decade,’ said Dirk von Zitzewitz, who will co-drive for de Villiers. ‘The organisers have announced a number of so-called erg crossings - sand stages that have not previously been driven - and the famous Nega pass, near Kiffa, as special challenges. More than once in the past the outcome of the rally was decided on such types of stage.’
The Volkswagen team’s Race Touaregs, powered by 2.5-litre TDI engines delivering 280 PS, won ten of the 2007 Dakar’s 14 special stages but failed to prevent Mitsubishi claiming a seventh successive overall victory. The Mitsubishi team, led by three-time victor Stéphane Peterhansel, is likely to be Volkswagen’s chief opposition once more. Volkswagen last won the Dakar in 1980, when Swede Freddy Kottulinsky drove his Iltis to victory.
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
For the second year running, the Volkswagen Caddy DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) has achieved honours at the What Van? magazine Van of the Year Awards.
The Caddy DSG, which uses twin clutch technology to provide faster gearchanges than a conventional automatic gearbox, received the exclusive Editor’s Choice award at the magazine’s 2007 awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 28th November. Last year the Volkswagen DSG won the What Van? Technology Award.
‘More and more manufacturers are offering an alternative to the conventional manual gearbox as an extra-cost option. Nobody, however, has come up with a solution that is quite as novel – or quite as effective – as Volkswagen’s DSG. It’s so impressive that it’s a worthy winner of the What Van? Editor’s Choice Award for 2007,’ said Neil McIntee, the Editor of What Van? magazine.
Gemma Cox, Product Manager, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said: ‘The What Van? awards are a great testament to Volkswagen’s advanced and efficient technology in the Caddy DSG and the quality Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles provide.’
The efficient, six-speed Volkswagen DSG uses two clutches which allow gear changes to occur in less than four hundredths of a second, enabling it to achieve the same 0-62 mph time of 13.3 seconds as the manual transmission with the same 1.9-litre, 104 PS TDI PD engine.
For the driver, the DSG is as easy to use as a conventional automatic transmission with added bonus of being able to select a manual mode and change gear by simply nudging the gearlever up or down.
The DSG is unique in the commercial vehicle market and is exclusively available in the Volkswagen Caddy van with an on the road price of £12,836.28 excluding VAT – a premium of only £1,000 over the equivalent model with manual transmission.
Other recent awards for the Volkswagen Caddy include Best Small Van from Van Fleet World and Professional Van & Light Truck magazines.
Full information of the Volkswagen Caddy van range is available from www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk or by calling 0800 717131.
Posted in Volkswagen | No Comments »
