Geneva Preview: Volkswagen Golf Variant official

VW just released the first photos of its third generation Golf Variant, which as we noted last week, will be officially unveiled at the Geneva Show in a few days. To be honest, I was never a fan of the Golf Variant and from the looks of it –and when I’m saying looks I mean it literally, this one won’t turn me into one either. Take a look at the rear end with those Mitsubishi Lancer tail-lights and you’ll get my point.

On the other hand of course, the 4,56 m long Variant boasts a luggage area of up to 690-liters with all-five passengers on board. If you toss down the rear seats capacity rises to 1.550-liters. For starters, the Golf Variant will be offered with the two petrol engines (102Hp 1.6 and 140Hp 1.4TSI) and two 1.9TDI diesels (105 and 140Hp). -Continued: Click “Read More…” below to check out the high-res image gallery

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VW to unveil 2008 Golf Variant at the Geneva Show

Although the German car-maker hasn’t announced this officially, thanks to a “chitchat” I had this morning with a VW European PR I learnt that, along with the Passat Bluemotion, VW will also unveil the station wagon version of the 5th generation Golf at the Geneva Show. Most probably based on the extended Jetta platform, the VW Golf Variant is expected to go on sale in Europe mid summer with the US market following later on the year. Picture Via: AMS

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Europe’s Top 10 best selling cars in 2006: GM’s Opel Astra knocked the VW Golf off the top spot!

GM might be having serious issues here and there but in Europe, things are starting to look promising to say the least. GM’s subsidiary Opel, not only swerved pass Renault to take the second place overall in the European market for 2006 –despite a 2,3% drop in sales, but its Astra model also managed to knock VW’s Golf off the top spot and become Europe’s best seller for 2006.

While rival VW must be pleased not only for maintaining first place but also for broadening the difference with the competition, I’m sure that they are quite unhappy with the fact that the Golf slipped from 1st place to 4th. On the contrary, Renault must feel very proud for its new Clio hatch (+28,0%) but not for its overall performance as sales dropped by 12,6%.

Fiat on its behalf recorded the largest increase in sales from the top 10 group with an 18.7% rise in sales, mainly due to its well-received Grande Punto hatch, which saw its sales double in 2006.

Finally, even though Toyota managed to rank 9th overall, there’s not one Asian model in Europe’s Top 10 best sellers list. In my opinion that won’t happen neither in 2007, but don’t be surprised if Toyota surpasses Citroen or Fiat (though less probable due to the introduction of the Bravo) at the end of the year.Via: Jato Dynamics

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