How about some good news from Volkswagen on this site lately?
We are pretty hard on the old VeeDub over here, which is ironic because my first-ever car was a 1975 SuperBeetle named Walter. This was in 1997, mind you, so he was already old enough to drink when I was 16.
After a bump on the nose in 2002.
2015 VW Golf R USA
Back to VW USA.
Pining and wishing and griping will never make the new Scirocco come to the USA - so let's celebrate what we are getting: the new GTI and the new Golf R!
The Golf R really looks amazing in its latest style - with performance that finally reaches the speed of the WRX and Evo in sprints. The new Golf R is estimated to have 290-horsepower, but the figures are still being finalized to deliver the right mix of MPG and speed. We'd bet on 300 even.
That will comfortably deliver the promised 0-60-mph time of 4.9-seconds via the latest VW DSG and launch control.
All good stuff. Even better is that the new Golf R will come in its four-door shape versus the three-door style that is popular in Europe and elsewhere, but not in the States. Three-door is all that is shown on US plates as of now.
So VW is learning... slowly but surely... that to sell bread/butter cars requires the low-volume, low-margin ones to come here as well. Better late than never, we say. Now how about a Scirocco 5-door....
Or a Jetta CC?
Or a new Passat CC, for that matter?
What is for sure is that VW AG is starting to really get the drift on how much it is sucking the life out of Volkswagen of America. I mean, help a brother out, Wolfsburg. Don't set high targets than keep all the good cars away.
Volkswagen in Germany is about as helpful to the US sales teams as a pocket of bricks would be to a new swimmer in the deep end. This needs to change.
NEW VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R GETS HORSEPOWER BOOST AND WEIGHT REDUCTION
May 12, 2014
Based on the new MQB platform, the latest Golf R is the most sophisticated and fastest Golf model to be sold in the U.S.
Most powerful production Golf ever for the North American market
New car has an estimated 290 horsepower, but is more fuel efficient than previous Golf R
EA888 TSI® 2.0-liter engine propels DSG®-equipped Golf R from 0 to 60 mph in approximately 4.9 seconds
Car features new 4MOTION® all-wheel-drive system
Golf R will go on sale in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015