Yanks shape new Jetta

Once just the 'booted' Golf, the Jetta is set to become a model in its own right. The only problem is it could be a 'plus-sized' US model!

Though the Australian market will see out the model life of the existing and popular Golf V-based Jetta, the next generation of the car will be designed chiefly for the US market and built at VW's green field production facility at Chattanooga in the US state of Tennessee (more here).

Though Volkswagen initially planned to follow BMW and Mercedes' lead and build SUVs at its new American facility, the collapse of the large SUV market has prompted a rapid rethink. The plant will now focus its attentions on passenger cars -- in particular VW's top-selling US model, the Jetta.

Volkswagen international sales boss, Executive Vice President, Detlef Wittig, told the Carsales Network, design of the next generation Jetta will be driven by US market demands.

"The main volume seller for us [in the USA] is the Jetta and with [consumers] downsizing it sits in the heart of the market -- it's [in] the sweet spot of the market.

"The US passenger car market is stable and within the passenger car market the large models are going down and [demand] is all going into the Jetta area... So the car we are going to make in Chattanooga is a Jetta successor," Wittig told the Carsales Network.

"It [the new model] will be unique to the American market," Wittig said. "We'll export it to Europe but the basic construction, the basic design is lead by the US market."

The VW sales boss said the car will be designed as a "single standing car".

"Even the present Jetta is not a Golf with a boot anymore -- it's a complete unit or entity. The Jetta successor will share certainly basic components with the [European market] Golf but it will not be Golf with a boot added. It's a genuinely [new] design," he stated.

Though Wittig would not confirm any details, speculation has the new generation Jetta arriving as a Camry/Accord competitor -- a substantial increase in size over the current car, if true. Such a move would not be entirely without precedent, however. Nissan produces midsize cars based on C-segment (Golf-sized) platforms for the USA. Mazda builds an oversized Mazda6 that is US-only (more here).

Wittig says there are other advantages for a US-based Jetta product line-up.

"It gives us the chance, also to export the car [more competitively] to dollar-dependent markets," he said, pointedly referring to Australia's currency connection to the US dollar.

The US Australian FTA could also advantage the German brand, if VW Australia chose to take on volume sellers like the Camry Down Under.

The sales chief also stated the location of the build of another vehicle important to the US market could influence its Australian market potential.

Volkswagen's new one-tonne pick-up, the Robust (shown this week as a concept at the Hannover truck show -- see separate story here), is likely to hinge on whether it is built in the company's Argentine or Brazilian plant(s).

According to Wittig, VW needs the Argentine "currency position" to allow the Robust to be price competitive in marketplaces like Australia.

The production version of the all-wheel drive commercial will be unveiled at the Sao Paulo motor show late next month, at which time the production location will be finalized, the VW sales chief said.

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