Volkswagen Not Content To Sit Idle

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday May 31, 2008

BRENT DAVISON

Volkswagen Group Australia clawed its way back into the new car market's top 10 a couple of years ago, lifting its sales to more than 20,000 units.

Plans are in train to lift market share even further within the next few years.

Already the only manufacturer to offer a diesel alternative for its complete model range the company will go one step further with an eco-diesel engine known as Blu-Motion which it expects to have here within two years.

The hold-up, says marketing general manager Peter Dierks, is the availability of automatic transmission with the engine.

Another automatic transmission, Volkswagen's seven-speed Dynamic Shift Gearbox (DSG), is also waiting in the wings but Dierks says that transmission will arrive with the sixth-generation Golf which is also a way off.

The smaller-than-Polo Fox is also on VWGA's shopping list but it will be the next-gen car and not the current one that will come here.

And the recently-launched (in Europe) Golf-based Scirocco coupe? Surprisingly, VWGA is resisting the temptation to take the car because it has the potential of poaching sales from the hugely popular Golf GTI.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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