2012 Volkswagen Eos

2012 Volkswagen Eos

The Titan goddess of dawn better known as Eos has taken rebirth in the form of the Golf-based folding-hardtop convertible from Volkswagen. The car was displayed at the recently concluded Los Angeles auto show and it came with a very heavy face lift which gave it the similarity to the goddess of dawn. The chrome tongue design of the grille which company’s former design chief Murat Gunak, had created and had been the company’s signature design till now has been replaced with a wide horizontal grille. The stylistic clutter has also been cleaned up. The headlights have been replaced by rectangular units instead of the former round ones. This mounting holds the car’s LED daytime running lights, and the LED taillights too lose their glitzy white circle for an M-shaped look. To cater for higher cornering speeds the rear diffuser has been incorporated.
The folding roof design of the Eos has been retained as has been the other major design aspects of the car. As an engineering feat, if it is to be so termed, a built in sunroof can be opened even while the car is closed.

Volkswagen Electric Taxi Concept

Volkswagen Electric Taxi

Volkswagen is planning to introduce its Up-based electric Taxi Concept. The company is seriously thinking to begin the production of this concept vehicle in 2013. The company believes that in the future the lawmakers will compel the inner-city vehicles to offer low emissions and zero exhaust pollution.

The company said that the 180-mile range and one-hour charge time will fit into the work patterns of nearly all taxi drivers around the world. The battery-powered vehicle will be as a future vehicle for large cities. As reported by autocar, the designers at the VW said that they made a particular study of the classic London cab when it designed the Taxi Concept.

Designers at the company borrowed a London black cab from a company in Wolfsburg and spent three days studying, measuring and driving it. The designers noted that considered the London cab as an inspiration to the new concept vehicle since it is the most function-specific taxi in the world.

Volkswagen's India Models and its plan

Volkswagen recently announced the launch of its high-end luxury car, the Phaeton, in India. Named after the son of Phoebus, the Greek Sun God, it was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2002, and it hit the market in 2003. But the sales fell short of expectations. It was positioned against top-end brands like Mercedes, BMW, Lexus and Volkswagen’s own Audi. But it lacked the appeal of the rival brands — hence the lacklustre performance. But so keen is Volkswagen to make the Phaeton work in India that it has taken the car back to the drawing board. The result: LED daytime running lights, 18-inch wheels, a new dashboard, 18-way adjustable seats, better upholstery and even new air-conditioning to suit the Indian climate.
Earlier in the month, Volkswagen, headquartered in Lower Saxony in Germany, had announced that it will launch an all-new sedan, the Vento, in autumn. It will be manufactured at Volkswagen’s factory at Chakan in Pune, and has been completely designed to the needs and expectations of the Indian consumer. Also in the works is a small car. At present, there are six cars in Volkswagen’s stables: The Beetle, Polo, Passat, Jetta, Phaeton and Touareg. It could expand to eight. It fits petrol as well as diesel engines into its cars. Volkswagen thus straddles the entire spectrum of the Indian market. Its factory at Chakan, put up at a cost of Rs 3,200 crore, can make 110,000 cars in a year. Those who have seen the factory say this capacity can easily be doubled because of the modular nature of the plant.

Along with its other brands, Skoda and Audi, Volkswagen has a share of less than 1 per cent in the 1.3-million per annum Indian car market. From here, Volkswagen wants to raise it to 10 per cent in five years. India is vital for Volkswagen’s plan to become the world’s largest car maker by 2018. In 2009, it sold 6.29 million cars. This had placed it on the third spot after Toyota (7.23 million) and General Motors (6.50 million). Volkswagen is the largest player in China, Europe and South America. In China, it sold 1.4 million cars in 2009 — more than the entire Indian market — and its share of the market was an impressive 18 per cent. India, which is expected to grow to 3 million cars in five years, is the final frontier. By itself it may not catapult Volkswagen ahead of Toyota and General Motors, but it is one of the few markets left with large sale volumes up for grabs.

Volkswagen Vento to launch on July 6

Volkswagen Vento

Volkswagen India is all set for the launching of Vento — the company’s premium entry level sedan in the country. The new sedan was designed to compete against Hyundai Verna, Honda City, Toyota’s upcoming Etios sedan, Maruti Suzuki SX4, and Ford Fiesta.

This C-segment sedan would be available in petrol and diesel versions, powered by 1.6 L engines and will be available in manual and automatic (petrol version with AT) transmissions in the market. Price was estimated to be between Rs. 9-10 lakh.

Vento is the latest addition to VW’s Passat, Jetta, Touareg, New Beetle, Phaeton and the very recently and successfully-launched Polo hatchback car. The company believes that their new baby will set a benchmark in its class — timeless, pure and authentic design clubbed with quality engineering, sturdiness and driving dynamics.

Neeraj Gard, board member and director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt. Ltd said that “The new Vento is a major milestone for the Volkswagen Brand in India. We have taken into consideration all the preferences and requirements of our customers in India for this vehicle. It will meet the premium demands of our future customers.”

Volkswagen Beetle most popular with U.S. women

2010 Volkswagen New Beetle

The analytical geniuses over at TrueCar have released their second automotive industry demographic study, which is based on over 13 million actual vehicle registrations, covering the last two years. The data shows that more men than women – at a rate of 64 percent to 36 percent – register vehicles in the United States even though females make up 51 percent of the country’s population (according to the U.S. Census Bureau).

Brands with the highest percentage of male registrations included exotics and pickup brands. When it comes to females, there were 6 brands with 10 percent or less female registrations. Bugatti has 0 percent female registrations while Ferrari had 5.6 percent and Lamborghini had 6.5 percent. Tesla had 9.8 percent and Aston Martin had 9.9 percent.

Women Love VW Beetles

The results are in, and we finally know which vehicles are truly “chick cars.”

"Still irresistible after all these years, the Volkswagen Beetle is the top car among women," writes the Wall Street Journal. "Following closely are the Nissan Rogue and Hyundai Tucson compact SUVs and Volkswagen Eos convertible." Just over 56 percent of registered Beetle owners are women.

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and bacon is delicious.

The findings come from a study conducted by TrueCar Inc. It "was based on over 13 million actual vehicle registrations, covering the last two years." The study looked at gender differences in car registration.

Aside from the cars most popular with women, Autoblog points out, "There was some other interesting info gleaned from the research, including the revelation that 64% of all cars are registered by men despite the fact that there are more women (at 51% of the population, just a tad) than men in America."

Still, you should take the numbers with a grain of salt. Kicking Tires points out that "the number of women registering cars is different from the number driving or buying them, so these numbers may not reflect precisely who is behind the wheel."

Volkswagen Jetta Going Hybrid In 2011

Volkswagen have made no secret of their intentions to carve out a large space in the hybrid car market over the past few years and the next VW to get the hybrid treatment is set to be the popular Jetta model. 2011 will see the introduction of a hybrid gas/electric version of the 4-door sedan heading to US shores, hoping to take a bite out of the current hybrid king of the hill, the Toyota Prius.

We expect to see the car selling for just over $20,000 USD, which will lob it into direct competition with hybrids like the Prius and the Ford Fusion and will make it a fair bit cheaper than the upcoming Chevy Volt. Volkswagen introduced a hybrid version of their SUV Touareg which is set for release this fall in the US at the somewhat consumer-unfriendly price tag of $90,000+, many have been critical of the Touareg but this new hybrid Jetta has been widely viewed as a genuine play for notable market share in the explosively popular hybrid car sales arena.