Ken Gratton•2 Oct 2013
NEWS
VW sets dates for new variants
Golf wagon due Feb, 'Performance' GTI and Golf R coming in Q2 and Polo facelift scheduled for second half, 2014Volkswagen Australia anticipates moderate sales growth next year, helped considerably by the roll-out of the new Golf GTI.
In year to date sales the Golf is nearly 1400 units behind its standing last year, according to VFACTS – despite the release of the significantly improved Golf 7 earlier this year. It's the lack of a Golf 7-based GTI that has been hurting VW sales locally, according to Volkswagen Australia MD, John White.
"Last year... Golf and GTI... we sold about 18,000 vehicles, of which the GTI represented 15 per cent of the mix. We had a gap – as we've run out from the old model to the new model – of approximately six months of production. Basically this has had a fairly significant impact on our sales results this year, with regards to this model."
Now the GTI is on stream in its latest incarnation, VW will be anticipating Golf sales to lift again in 2014, boosted also by the introduction of Golf wagon in February, the Golf GTI Performance variant the following quarter, and Golf R – also in the second quarter of next year. The highly successful Polo will be relaunched in facelifted form from the second half of 2014 also.
It's no surprise – if you've been following the local success stories of Renault Sport and Mercedes-AMG – that high-performance Golf variants are big sellers in Australia. White says that the brand's anticipated "15 to 20 per cent" GTI split next year will make Australia one of the largest markets for the Golf GTI, per capita, in the world.
That will be driven to some degree by the GTI Performance, boasting peak power of 169kW, larger brakes, electronic locking diff, 19-inch alloy wheels (as opposed to the 18-inch alloys of the standard GTI) and DSG dual-clutch transmission as standard. Front disc rotors now measure 340mm (28mm larger) and the rear discs grow 10mm to 310mm. In addition the Golf GTI Performance gains bi-xenon headlights and revised sports seats in a new trim pattern. Price will be $47,990.
There's no pricing available yet for the all-wheel drive Golf R, but White revealed that the new model will produce 206kW – 37kW more than the Golf GTI Performance.
At a lower scale in the model range, the Golf wagon will offer Passat-like levels of refinement, in a smaller package, according to White, who also announced that the wagon for Australia will be sourced from Germany rather than Mexico, as is the case at present.
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Written byKen Gratton
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