It's petrol rations at Volkswagen

VOLKSWAGEN’S move to beef up its local turbo-diesel passenger car line-up will come in tandem with a rationalisation of its petrol-powered offerings.

Volkswagen has already upped the ante in the tiny oil-burner market by including two TDi engines in its Golf V line-up that officially goes on sale September 1. But the forthcoming second generation Bora and all-new Passat will display the new direction even more starkly.

The Bora, essentially a three-box version of a Golf, will go on sale in Australia in the last quarter of 2005, following its expected debut at the Geneva auto show next March.

The Passat is also due to be unveiled at Geneva, though Australian management intends to hold its introduction until the first quarter of 2006 to ensure each model gets its moment in the sun.

The current local plan calls for the Bora to drop all three of its current petrol engines – an 85kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder, a 2.3-litre 125kW V5 and the 4Motion’s 150kW V6.

They are expected to be replaced by the 110kW 2.0 FSI unit that debuts with a VW badge in Australian in Golf V, the turbocharged four-cylinder 150kW engine that will feature in Golf GTi and 103kW 2.0 TDi just launched in Golf V.

"That segment is very, very buoyant at the moment, so I think a high performance Bora and a regular Bora would be the way to go," said Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Peter Nochar.

Meanwhile, the current Passat plan calls for it to be launched with the choice of one petrol engine – a new V6 – and a new twin-turbo 3.0-litre diesel that is being showcased in Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi’s new A6. That compares to the current engine family that includes the 125kW V5, a 140kW 2.8-litre V6 and the unusual 202kW W8.

But cutting back engines is not the only pruning being considered for Passat.

"We’re thinking of simplifying the options," Mr Nochar said. "Rather than having a range of Passats, we’d have maybe one Passat with two engines. They would be all automatic, we wouldn’t bother with a manual.

"Then if sales start to drift or there’s another segment that becomes obvious we can split at a later date rather than trying to come in with a great big, wide range of offerings."Mr Nochar said he was conscious that VGA, with its limited marketing spend, could not afford to simply keep adding to its model range without paring some established variants.

"We can’t bring everything because we are too small," he said. "We struggle already to make an impact with all the different things we have.

"You want to sell more Boras? So spend more money on Bora, but that’s less money on Golf or less on Passat. The marketing budget is only so big and you cut it into slices. The bigger the slice you give to Golf, the less you give to the other, so it is a constant juggling act."

... and there's more to come

PASSAT and Bora are far from the only new vehicles lining up for Australian launch by VW over the next 18 months or so.

The Chinese-built 1.6-litre Polo Classic sedan finally makes it on sale in August following a series of logistical delays, while the commercial vehicle division gets a boost with the arrival of the Caddy – a competitor for the Holden Combo and Citroen Berlingo – in October.

The Touareg R5 SUV goes on sale in November powered by a five-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that is basically half the flagship V10 already on sale here. The single overhead camshaft ‘Pumpe-Duse’ engine produces 125kW and 400Nm.

The Phaeton and Golf V GTi will be here in the first half of 2005 before the arrival of Bora and Passat. Beyond that should come the Polo GTi as part of a facelift of the VGA’s smallest car, as well as some new derivatives.

Diary dates

Polo Classic – August 2004
Golf – September 2004
Caddy – October 2004
Touareg R5 – November 2004
Phaeton – April/May 2005
Golf GTi – May/June 2005
Bora – Oct/Nov 2005
Passat – Feb/March 2005