Friday, July 04, 2008

The Next Generation of the most successful automobile in South America: The new Gol is being launched



Hello fellow VW Gazette Readers !!!

I can now finally reveal the all new VW Gol !!

The new Gol comes from a huge family of 5.7 million other Gol variants roaming the globe under the alias' of Pointer, Fox, Parati, Saveiro, Voyage, Amazon and Gacel.

This new Gol is based upon components within the the VW Empire mainly the Fox and Polo, as such engines comprise of a 1.0L and 1.6L which uses VW's new VHT - Volkswagen High Torque which gives the Gol range a high torque at lower revs, it also means that the Gol will continue the TotalFlex strategy, which means the engine can run on Ethanol and Petrol or a combination of the both.

I'm 100% sure this new Gol will reach most of all the continents, as VW plan to market it in Russia, China and possibly India as well as South East Asia and Eastern Europe where it will be badged as a Skoda.

New Gol will also sprawn additional variations a sedan, utility, van and a crossover, the sedan Voyage will launch in October at the Brazilian Motor Show in Sao Paulo, the new Saveiro utility will follow sometime next year.


Festive premiere in Saõ Paulo with 10,000 guests in attendance- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be offering his congratulations Saõ Paulo, 01 July 2008 - Now that more than 5.7 million cars have been made here, the Next Generation of the most successful automobile in South America for the last 21 years is being launched: the Gol by Volkswagen. This compact car, which is manufactured in Brazil, is precisely geared toward the local demands of customers in South America. Hence the Gol can be driven on any mixture ratio of gasoline and ethanol without the slightest loss of horsepower thanks to its Totalflex technology, like all the Volkswagen models made in Brazil.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was invited by Viktor Klima, VW’s South America head. He was the first person to take a seat behind the steering wheel of the new Gol, as Garcia Sanz, member of the board of management, elucidated the main features and significance of this economical compact car: "It’s simply a captivating automobile, which is going to write a new chapter in the success story of the Gol," Sanz said.

Lula da Silva recollected the beginnings of the bivalent Volkswagens, which are primarily operated in South America with ethanol made from sugarcane: "A couple years ago I was inaugurating the production of TotalFlex vehicles here. It all began with a few cars for a test phase, and nowadays nearly every single car in Brazil is running with renewable fuel."

Ulrich Hackenberg, member of the board of management for the Volkswagen brand, in charge of Technical Development, underscored Brazil’s importance as a development location: "The New Gol’s design and technology were conceived here; this Volkswagen, like every other model we make, stands for topmost quality as well as technological innovation." Thomas Schmall, President of Volkswagen do Brazil, particularly extolled the commitment of all the employees at the two plants at Anchietá and Taubaté. "The Gol is a goal that’s shot for Brazil," said Schmall, in a reference to the soccer world.


Europe’s largest car manufacturer has been active in Brazil since 1953. It produces automobiles, buses and heavy trucks as well as engines and gear boxes at five locations, employing about 21,000 people. 18 million vehicles have rolled off their conveyor belts since then. In the 1970s Volkswagen was the first automobile manufacturer that, in conjunction with Brazilian engineers, locally developed vehicles for the regional South American markets. Volkswagen provides the greatest variety of all car manufacturers in Brazil, offering 17 models, and maintains a network of about 600 dealers.


Brazil is the second largest foreign market for the Volkswagen Group after China. Last year the corporation sold 581,300 vehicles here, 32 percent more than in 2006. VW do Brasil is not merely one of the largest privately held companies in Brazil but operates as automobile supplier for all of South America as well. Twelve percent (744,200 vehicles) of all deliveries of the Volkswagen Group were accounted for in this region in 2007.









Source: Volkswagen

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

2008MY update for VW Brazil's Gol, Saveiro, Fox & CrossFox


Volkswagen Brazil have updated their Gol, Saveiro, Fox & CrossFox lines for the 2008 Model Year.


Fox
-Facelift, same front as the European Fox and SpaceFox
-enhanced headlight design-simplier modifications to the boot hatch to ease opening & closing
-new updated Tachometer-antenna on roof
-Fox Plus gets a slidng rear seats to improve either luggage or rear passenger space
-Limited Edition Fox Route has a new sound system, MP3 Compatibility, 512MB pen drive and rear spoiler

CrossFox
-new grill taken from the SpaceFox Crossover Study from 2006
-enhanced headlight design
-15 inch steel wheels
-antenna on roof

Gol / Saveiro
-Refreshed Tachometer
-Gol Power has darkened Tail & Headlights & a Black "V" Grill
-Gol Trend has dakened Headlights







































Source: www.volkspage.net

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Saturday, June 16, 2007

Volkswagen's new People's Car ?


For my First article for The VW Gazette I decided to write about the new unreleased Gol NF (New Family) range that will debut in Early 2008 in Brazil.
(pictured is the current Gol)

Now what is a Gol I hear you ask ? Well the Gol has been Brazil's Number 1 seller for the past 20 Consecutive Years and is an important part of VW Brazil's lineup, with 4.5 Million sales since 1st released it is definitely an important VW in terms of market share.

The entry level Gol which sits below the Fox and Polo was released in 1980 with a aircooled engine later a North-South (Longitudinal) placed watercooled 4-cylinder engine, other bodystyle variants were released shortly after a Sedan (Voyage), a Wagon (Parati) and a Pickup (Saveiro).

Now one of the biggest well known Export deals would have been the exports to the US when the Wagon and Sedan were sold as the Fox.
With high retail price (in early 1990s) due to Brazil's inflated market the deal was cancelled by 1994.
Other deals since then include selling the Gol in Russia as the Pointer and producing the Gol in one of Volkswagen's two Chinese Joint Ventures Shanghai Volkswagen sales were not great as the Gol platform was seriously ageing.

Which brings me to the all new Gol NF family which is infact using current Fox & Polo chassis/components due to VWs cost saving intiatives but is all new in Gol terms.

The NF family will be made up of 3dr/5dr hatchback, sedan, utility, panel van (below the Caddy) and a SUV/Crossover variants.

Not mentioned is the Wagon because from what I've read from various media sites the SpaceFox(produced in Argentina for Sth. American market) replaces the Parati, that could change though, as other media sites report Gol NF may replace current Gol line and Fox lines and combine them keeping costs down, which does make sense and is what I think will happen.

Gol NF family engines will be borrowed from the current Fox and Polo ranges so 1.0 to 1.6 petrol and 1.4 diesel possibly bigger capacities in the future.

The Gol NF Family is the big one for VW as they will build it (or a version off the NF platform) in Developing Countries such as Argentina, Brazil, China, India and Russia.

With the Gol NF products being built in Developing Countries, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and quite possibly some of the variants may find their way into North America will benefit from the cheaper export prices.

The plan is that Gol NF based vehicles will be able to be built easily to the destined markets desires, an example is that for Europe and say North America the car would be packed full of features like Airbags, ABS Brakes, ESP and other Luxuries that would be optional on other markets like India & China for example.

Now if VW get this platform packaged correctly and target the Toyota Yaris or below, it will be a sales phenomenon much like the beloved Beetle and will be an important step in growing market share for Volkswagen worldwide.

With Enthusiast and Buyers craving for a new lovable Entry Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn and his team must be as excited as I am to finally see VW get it right.

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