Europe’s number one car maker, Volkswagen, will start the second stage of its growth plan for the Australian market, with new vehicles due to be launched, a revitalised dealer network and an expanded Australian importer, building on the ground work success of the Volkswagen Transporter, Golf and Polo over the past four years.

"Volkswagen has proven itself to be a force to reckoned with during the four years since it fully re-entered the Australian car market," says Ewan Ramsay, Managing Director for Volkswagen in Australia. "With the foundations now laid, Volkswagen is now positioned to make 1998 the year it moves into brand new sectors of both the car and commercial vehicle markets with benchmark models, while further strengthening its position in its traditional market sectors with Golf and Transporter."

"With the Volkswagen Group’s expanded representation in the Asia Pacific Region and its domination of the most populous market in the world, China, also in this region, it is clear that Volkswagen sees the Asia Pacific region as central to its world plans and that Australia, with the highest level of car ownership, must play a key role."

The coming 12 months will see the launch of new Volkswagen Passat in the first quarter of 1998, the arrival of two new commercial vehicles, the Caddy and the LT in second half of the year, the Passat Wagon in the third quarter and the fourth generation Golf will make its Australian debut at the end of 1998 before going on sale in 1999.

Existing models have also been improved for 1998. The Golf CL and GL now have air conditioning included in their standard equipment package, along with eight speakers for the standard digital stereo radio cassette unit. The Polo and Golf Cabriolet have gained new security features on the door and steering locks and the Polo also gains a new instrument pack with new clear instruments and warning lights.

Developing best practice customer service

At the same time as launching a host of new models, there is a clear recognition by the Australian Volkswagen importer, Inchcape Motors Australia, that it cannot build success on new models alone.

"Customer service is central to success in every area of the market," says Mr Ramsay. "All the evidence shows that poor customer service drags down even the best vehicles and an indifferent vehicle will achieve significantly better sales if it is backed by good customer service. So our plan in 1998 is not just to supply world class vehicles, but also world class service."

Volkswagen plans to tackle customer satisfaction by both focusing on the needs of different groups of customers and by lifting the whole level of customer service offered by both the importer and its dealers across Australia. For the importer this has meant the recruitment and reorganization of staff to provide more people in customer focused roles at its Sydney headquarters. It has also launched schemes, such as the Volkswagen Fleet Program, targeting particular groups of customers and instigated new customer contact programs, such as the Volkswagen Driver magazine and the launch of the largest web site operated by any Volkswagen importer in the world.

Volkswagen has also set exhaustive new standards for its dealers across Australia, which will see them offer improved levels of customer service and support in every area of sales and aftersales. This includes an aggressive use of new technology.

By the end of 1998 every Volkswagen dealer in Australia will have their own web site on the Internet, linked to Volkswagen’s own national site. The 1997 Sydney International Motor Show also saw the launch of a new dealer identity program, which aims to make all Volkswagen dealers an easy and pleasant environment in which to conduct business.

The new models: Caravelle, Passat, Caddy, LT and Golf IV During the 18 months following the Sydney International Motor Show in October 1997, Volkswagen will launch a host of new models taking the German car maker into new sectors of the Australian car and commercial vehicle market with state of the art vehicles, as well as offering new vehicles in sectors in which it already competes.

The first is the new Volkswagen Caravelle, which debuted at the 1997 Sydney International Motor Show, going on sale immediately. The latest version of what is arguably the world’s first and best people mover, the Caravelle offers luxurious transport for eight full size adults and their luggage, something no other competitor on the Australian market can offer.

Remarkably, considering it is better equipped, uses a new, more powerful engine and has a higher level of trim, the new Caravelle actually costs significantly less than the vehicle it replaces, a sure sign of Volkswagen’s ever improving productivity and efficiency. It is available with the new 85 kW version of the 2.5 litre engine matched to either a five speed manual gearbox or a Dynamic Shift Program ‘thinking’ automatic gearbox.

Volkswagen has only one problem with the new Passat: It simply cannot build enough to meet demand. Volkswagen’s new large car has been acclaimed by the critics and achieved instant sales success in every market it has been launched. It made its Australian debut at the 1997 Sydney International Motor Show and sales start during the first quarter of 1998.

An all-new design, the technology under the skin of the new Passat is as striking as its new body. Every engine in the Australian range is a five valve per cylinder unit.

The V6 versions have Formula One-style Tiptronic automatic gearboxes as standard and it’s an option on the Turbo versions. ABS anti-lock brakes are standard on all models, the Passat’s all galvanized body was the first in the world to offer a 12 year warranty and it offers a level of comfort, performance and luxury that will set new standards.

Transporter joined by LT and Caddy

Volkswagen has built its commercial vehicle success in Australia, as around the world, on four generations of the Transporter. But the world’s number one commercial vehicle is not the only commercial vehicle offered by Volkswagen. The company produces a range of commercial vehicles from a ¼ tonne ute to 40 tonne articulated trucks. In 1998 the two newest models will arrive in Australia. The Caddy ‘bubbleback van’ will slot into the range under the Transporter and the LT will top off the range with both vans and cab chassis versions up to a 4.6 tonne GVW.

With a choice of more than 90 different versions to chose from, the Volkswagen LT will enable the Australian importer to tailor versions to meet exacting local needs with a vehicle that will offer the capacity of a small truck with the ease of driving a large car.

Volkswagen will be able to choose from an impressive range of engines for the Australian market, including a 75 kW turbo intercooled diesel and a 105 kW fuel injected petrol engine. These units will be joined by a 2.8 litre 92 kW diesel in 1998.

All are matched to a five speed manual gearbox, with the option a four speed Dynamic Shift Program automatic gearbox on the petrol engined version.

The Volkswagen LT is available with three bodies - again, the final versions for Australia have yet to be chosen - with the van offering three wheelbases and two roof heights, giving internal volumes of 7.0 to 13.4 cubic metres. The Single Cab Chassis is available with three wheelbases, offering tray lengths of 2.7 to 4.06 metres, while the spacious double cab, with two wheelbases, offers tray lengths of 2.7 to 3.2 metres. In people moving versions, the LT offers 22 different seating arrangements for nine to 14 people.

The new Volkswagen LT has unique environmental credentials, essential for a vehicle that will spend much of its life driving around cities. It meets all European emission laws into the next century, as well as surpassing the European noise laws that will see other vehicles banned.

In Europe vehicles such as the Caddy are known as "Bubble Back" vans, an apt description of a market sector that takes a small hatchback and replaces the rear half of the vehicle with a ‘bubble’ van body.

This typically European solution to urban transport needs produces a unique combination that is a spacious van, a vehicle that is easy, light and responsive to drive and which has a style of its own that cannot be matched by a conventional box van.

The basis of the Volkswagen Caddy, the Polo, lifts Volkswagen’s new small van above the competition, because, by starting with what is usually described as the best small car in the world, the Caddy has an unbeatable head-start.

In Germany, alone, this type of van accounts for 35,000 registrations a year, but for Australia it is, largely, a new type of commercial vehicle. Volkswagen in Australia will be targeting two markets with the Caddy. Firstly it will be the group of van owners for whom speed of delivery and quick and easy parking are important, while the second category will be the companies for whose delivery vehicle is used as part of their company image but for whom a white box too large and expensive to run.

Although it is only 4.2 metres long, the Caddy has a load area of 2.1 square metres, a load volume of 2.9 cubic metres and a payload 550 kg. The Caddy is designed so that rear windows and seats may be easily fitted. It can even be turned into a compact campervan!

In Europe it is available with a choice of 44 and 55 kW petrol engines and two 47 kW diesel engines, all with five speed manual gearboxes. With the top engine, the Caddy can cover the dash to 80 kmh in 11.3 seconds and continue, where the law permits, to a top speed of 153 kmh. At a continuous 90 kmh, the Caddy offers 6.2 l/100 km.

Full specifications and prices of the Australian versions of the Volkswagen LT and the Volkswagen Caddy will be announced when they are launched in 1998.

Also coming to Australia will be the all-new fourth generation Volkswagen Golf which made its debut at the 1997 Frankfurt International Motor Show. It will arrive in Australia in 1999.

Demand continues to exceed supply

Around the world there was a common problem for Volkswagen in 1997: Supply could not meet demand. Despite this, Volkswagen took more than 10 per cent of the world market for the first time. Australia too, shared in the sales spoils with sales up over 55 per cent in 1997, compared to 1996.

The Polo sold almost its entire annual planned volume in the first half, the Golf CL and GL were significantly up and Transporter continued to sell more vehicles in the quality-starved Australian van market. The specialist versions of the Golf, the Cabriolet and VR6 increased their combined sales levels.

Safety: Not an option

Safety is not an option with Volkswagen. All its products are built to exceed every safety rule in the world with a 40 per cent margin. All products have a wide range of passive and active safety features, headlined by twin air bags in all cars and a driver’s side air bag as standard in all commercial vehicles, both firsts in their respective sectors. But that is only the beginning of the safety features, many unique, such as the mesh weld seams in all vehicles, the all-wheel disc brakes in the commercial vehicles and the impact absorbing foam filled doors in the new Passat.

Volkswagen: A wide range of cars and commercial vehicles

Volkswagen made its name with a car and company that were the same, but now Volkswagen is no longer one vehicle, it is a range of cars and commercial vehicles that cover the entire market.

The Golf and Polo versions sold in Australia, selected from two of the best selling car ranges in the world, represent the tip of what is a veritable iceberg of models and versions, many of which have never been seen in Australia

Volkswagen invented the people mover with the original Kombi. Its heir is the Caravelle, a people mover that offers unrivaled interior space and comfort for eight full size adults. And, unlike its competitors, with all the seats occupied there is still room for two cubic metres of luggage space.

The Transporter is, quite simply, the best selling commercial vehicle of all time with more than 8.0 million units already under its belt. Just two years ago it was represented by just one version on the Australian market. Now there are 51 variants. Four bodies: Van; Long wheelbase Van; Cab Chassis; Double Cab Chassis.

Three engines: 2.0 and 2.5 litre petrol and 2.4 litre diesel. Two gearboxes: Five speed manual and four speed full electronic automatic. Two drivetrains: Front wheel drive and Syncro four wheel drive.

But these 51 variants are just the start. The Transporter is the host vehicle for a huge range of commercial, professional, business and recreational conversions. It can be everything from a workshop to a mobile bread shop, from an office on wheels to a surgery, from a camper van to an entire home on wheels.

Volkswagen: Setting the benchmark standard

Europe is both the largest and the most diverse car market in the world. It encompasses just about every motoring condition it is possible to have, from Arctic wastes to blazing deserts, wide open plains to Alpine passes, the most congested roads in the world to the unrestricted Autobahns of Germany where cruising at 250 kmh is a normal event.

And that is before you look at the social, political, cultural and national diversity of people as different as the French and the British, the Germans and the Italians or the Spanish and the Swedish!

For a car company to be unquestionably the number one in a market place as diverse as Europe and to include in its range the number one car and the number one commercial vehicle requires very special talents and one which sets the standards by which others are judged.

Just such a company is Volkswagen.

It has set the standard by which other car companies are judged in areas as diverse as environmental friendliness, durability and reliability, safety and, of course, the ability to meet the demands of a huge range of customers.

The Volkswagen Group Today

The Volkswagen Group is the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. In 1996, the Group produced 3.608 million vehicles under the brands of Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda. These vehicles are sold in almost every country of the world. In Western Europe, the Volkswagen Group was able to maintain its leading position as Europe’s largest automobile producer - a position it has held since 1985. Including the Skoda marque, the market share of the Group is 16.6 percent.

The passenger car range extends from the SEAT and Skoda models, through the Volkswagen range to the luxury class Audi models. The commercial vehicle range extends from small pick-up vehicles, through the world’s number one commercial vehicle, the Transporter, to 22-tonne trucks.

Volkswagen has European production plants in Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and Belgium, as well as an engine plant in Hungary. Volkswagen also builds cars in Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Taiwan and China.