September 27, 2012. Copyright 2012, Graphic News. All rights reserved

VW Golf debuts at Paris Car Show as Europe's economy falters
By Neil Winton

LONDON, September 27, Graphic News:  Volkswagen has picked a bad time to launch its crucial new vehicle, the Golf VII small family car.

Economic weakness is even starting to inhibit the power-house that is Germany, and car sales in Western Europe are expected to drop again in 2012 by up to eight percent, and not return to pre-recession highs any time soon.

The Golf VII, VW's biggest seller, will be the most important new car at the biennial Mondial de l'Automobile, the Paris Car Show, but the dire economic conditions haven't stopped Europe's big car companies from launching expensive new products too. Ford will unveil the new Mondeo, a Europeanised version of the U.S. Ford Fusion. The Mondeo has an Aston Martin look-alike front grille and boasts the option of a tiny but powerful 1.0 litre petrol engine promising serious fuel frugality.

General Motors Europe's Opel-Vauxhall will show the new little Adam city-car to rival the Mini and Fiat 500, apparently unfazed by reports that its future is in doubt because of its huge losses -- up to another $1.5 billion this year to add to the $16 billion it has burned through over the last 12 years. Renault introduces its new little Clio. Toyota's bland rival to the Golf, the Auris, has been given a makeover to improve its looks. And a reminder that the rich do well during recessions; Jaguar will unveil the new F-Type two-seater roadster.

But the new Golf will be the star of the show.  It is always the mark of a successful car that designers are loathe to change anything that made it popular, so the seventh version of the Golf is barely distinguishable from the previous model. VW has sold over 29 million Golfs around the world since it was first introduced in 1974 to replace the iconic Beetle.

The new Golf is a bit longer, wider and lower than the old one, and has shed about 100kg. Power comes from a new range of petrol and diesel engines all of which incorporate Stop/Start. At launch, there are 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesels, and petrol engines of 1.2 and 1.4 litres, the latter with Active Cylinder Technology which can deactivate two cylinders and achieve up to 58.9 miles per gallon.

The Golf VII, on sale in Europe in October, is built on a new engineering platform of engines, suspensions and technology which will eventually be used on up to a half of VW's annual output of more than eight million vehicles including various Audis, SEATs and Skodas. The engineering system, which cost €62 billion (euros) over four years to develop, promises €3,000 (euros) costs savings per car for VW, but also a big financial risk if anything goes wrong.

The new Golf doesn't have any great new engineering advances, but has many optional safety features previously only available on luxury cars such as automatic parking, warning systems if you fall asleep, radar cruise control, and automatic braking to stop accidents.

Mondial de l'Automobile is open to the public from September 29 to October 14 at the Paris Expo centre, Porte de Versailles.
/ENDS

VW Golf VII
Engine -- 1.2 litre 4-cylinder petrol 
Power -- 84 hp @ tbc
Drive -- front-wheels
Fuel consumption -- claimed combined -- 57.6mpg-4.9 l/100kms
C02 -- 113 g/km
Emissions class -- Euro V
Length -- 4,255mm
Width -- 1,799mm
Height -- 1,452mm
Wheel-base -- 2,637mm
Weight -- tbc
Boot capacity -- 380 litres
Price from €16,975 (euros)