One of the most interesting events in the past decade or so in the Australian automotive industry has been the renaissance by the Volkswagen group.
In the 1960s and early 1970s the Volkswagen Beetle was a major player in the Australian market. For much of that time it was built here and was so popular that it was generally in the top five, sometimes the top three in the sales race; being beaten only by Holden and Falcon.
Following the demise of the Beetle, though, Volkswagen all but disappeared from the local market and it wasn’t until the company’s German head office decided to take over local operations in 2000 that the resurgence began.
The new company was called Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA), Under a fresh management team sales began to grow - from about 5000 vehicles a year in 2001, to 48,241 vehicles in 2011. During 2011 the number of Australian Volkswagen dealerships grew by 22 to a new high of 125.
In late 2011 Volkswagen Group Australia moved into a brand new $40-million corporate headquarters at Chullora in the western suburbs of Sydney. Built on a 51,000 square metre site it incorporates a large showroom and reception area, parts and accessories warehouse, workshop, training centre for dealer staff, office areas for all business divisions - even a purpose-built café.
As part of our tour of the new headquarters we chatted to VGA executives about the company’s plans for 2012. Two of the highlights will come at each end of the year, beginning the imminent launch of the Scirocco R sports coupe. Late in the year we’ll see the release of the all-new Up! city car we previewed recently after attending the international launch in Italy.
Other new models include an upgraded to the Polo, including a Polo GTi; a new Volkswagen CC (formerly the Passat CC), the AWD Passat Alltrack and the next generation New Beetle.
The VW Commercial division will expand the Amarok utility range with new engines, and the long overdue cab-chassis and single-cab bodies.
Volkswagen’s fully-owned subsidiary, Skoda, will add an additional variant of its Yeti compact SUV; RS and wagon versions of the Fabia and also bring back the unusually styled Roomster station wagon.
While Skoda is perhaps best known for its sponsorship of major cycling events, most notably the Tour de France, the company’s local exposure seems sure to be enhanced through its purchase of the naming rights for the home ground of the new Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants AFL team at Homebush. |
Print Article
Submit Feedback
Email This Article
