'An Alliance Between Jaguar Land Rover And Hyundai-Kia Would Get My Vote'
With eight brands already in the family, the Volkswagen Group has as many marques as it needs. Actually, I鈥檇 go further and argue it has too many. The German giant might do well to allow a couple to fly the nest. Because they鈥檙e often - not always - competing directly with each other. And it鈥檚 you, the retail customer, who ultimately picks up the tab for these costly VW Group rivalries. This is perfectly illustrated in the mid-size hatch sector, where the Audi A3 goes head to head with the equally fine VW Golf, the brilliant SEAT Leon and the clever Skoda Octavia. As someone who鈥檚 driven all four cars over many thousands of miles, I can attest that there鈥檚 little between them in real-world conditions. A right-minded person who鈥檚 not a badge snob could happily live with any of the above. It鈥檚 the same overlapping story in the supermini class, with the A1, Polo, Ibiza and Fabia at each others鈥?throats.
They鈥檙e pretty much the same cars with different bodies and badges. Economies of scale on production lines are outweighed by each brand having its own costly HQ and dealer network. That鈥檚 why none of the above cars (not even the Skoda) is inexpensive. These attempts to steal sales from each other - paid for by you, remember - don鈥檛 come cheap. Instead, Diess stated, on 15 January, that 鈥淰olkswagen AG and Ford Motor Company launch global alliance鈥? And to underline the fact he鈥檚 referring to a formal alliance, not a mere occasional tie-up, he deliberately mentioned that symbolic word 鈥榓lliance鈥?three times in his first three sentences. This is not, at this stage at least, a Renault-Nissan-type alliance. Instead, 鈥榁olksFord鈥?insists it will initially deliver only pick-ups and vans from 2022, and explore potential collaboration on EVs, with or without drivers. But here鈥檚 the kicker: 鈥淰olkswagen and Ford also said they were open to considering additional vehicle programmes in the future,鈥?according to VW. Volkswagen is the number-one group in Britain for new car sales, with a market share of more than 20 per cent. Ford is the biggest-selling single brand, with around 11 per cent. 鈥榁olksFord鈥?would therefore be selling to around one third of UK new-car buyers. With rival automotive groups and individual firms left unhappy, maybe it would be time for another alliance. Between Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai-Kia, perhaps? That would get my vote. Do you agree with Mike? Is the Volkswagen and Ford alliance bad news for UK buyers?
First off I鈥檓 not authority on Golf鈥檚 of any generation but a few things I noticed on this model. The front G60 badge is not to scale. Also the huge miss on the rear exhaust, it is way out of scale - way too small. I don鈥檛 know how this oversight was missed! The front fogs seem to be off when compared to the 1:1 too, nothing major but it is noticeable. The GTI logo on the front section of each door is using the wrong font, not true to the 1:1 at all. The positives include the above average paint; you must have a Golf/GTI in red! Wheels are nicely executed too. Better than expected is the motor. Nicely detailed with the g-ladder visible in all its glory (some G60 owners would say horror story due to unreliability of the supercharger). I鈥檓 quite happy with the model overall, if I had to trade up again I鈥檇 do it without hesitation.
Volkswagen just introduced the new facelifted Passat, which looks sleek and without a doubt is one of the best-looking cars in its segment. The latest iteration comes on the market when the German manufacturer expects to sell its 30 millionth unit (second best-selling Volkswagen ever). Besides the enhanced look, Passat got updated tech and most importantly for the plug-in hybrid version, there is significantly more range. We knew that the new PHEV was coming since summer 2018 when the test mule was spotted in camouflage. Volkswagen will offer Passat GTE (sedan) and Passat Variant GTE (estate) with a 13.0 kWh battery (up 31% from 9.9 kWh), which will be enough for 55 km (34 miles) under the WLTP test cycle. It's of course great to see that the Passat GTE will be back, after the previous version was prematurely deleted from the offer in September 2018, because it wasn't worth certifying it for the WLTP requirements ahead of the facelift. 160 kW (218 PS) from 1.4 TSI gasoline turbocharged engine (110 kW / 150 PS) and 85 kW / 115 PS electric motor.
Zero emissions in the city. Volkswagen will launch the new Passat GTE with an enhanced plug-in hybrid drive as both saloon and estate models. In addition, a new operating mode configuration has made it much easier to reserve sufficient battery capacity for the target destination in a city. New operating mode configuration. The Passat GTE always starts in E-MODE if the lithium-ion battery is sufficiently charged. The high-voltage battery in the Passat GTE models can be charged via the external electricity grid or via the internal TSI engine and recuperation during the journey. In order to be able to travel in E-MODE in town at the end of a longer trip, Volkswagen has reconfigured the operating modes of the hybrid system and therefore simplified battery recharging during the journey. The two previous modes Battery Hold (maintaining battery charge level) and Battery Charge (charge battery via TSI) were integrated into the Hybrid mode in the new Passat GTE. Charging via the electricity grid. The Passat GTE is equipped with a 3.6 kW battery charger.
