Volkswagen (usually abbreviated as VW) is a giant group of auto manufacturers. The VW group is composed of Volkswagen itself, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini and heavy commercial manufacturer Scania.
The company was started in 1937 in Nazi Germany on the orders of Adolf Hitler to produce a common man’s car. ‘Volks Wagen’ means ‘people’s car’ (compare to the English phrase ‘Folk’s Wagon’). Up till then most cars were very expensive and only the wealthy could afford them. The man chosen for this important project was none other than the prominent engineer Ferdinand Porsche, founder of automaker Porsche, which is today in a strategic alliance with VW. The first car produced was called the KdF-wagen (KdF is the German initials for ‘Kraft durch Freude’- ‘strength through joy’), but is better known today as the Beetle, one of the most influential cars of all time.
VW New Zealand sells the following models- first is the new Beetle, which retains the bulbous outline of the original car in a modern interpretation. It’s also available as a convertible, but it’s driven almost exclusively by women.
The Eos is a hardtop convertible with VW’s Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) as standard. DSG is a revolutionary dual-clutch transmission which makes gear changes super-quick.
The Golf is a well-known hatchback available with the DSG and a 1.4 litre twincharger engine (supercharger and turbocharger) – this makes the little engine paradoxically both powerful and fuel-efficient. The Passat is a large sedan.
The Polo is a small city runabout. Scirocco is a slick, sporty 2-door hatch.
The SUV crowd is taken care of by the smaller Tiguan and the larger Touareg, which shares a platform with the Porsche Cayenne, and lastly is the Touran MPV.
Looking at buying a Volkswagen? Check the vehicle history of any VW by entering its number plate in the field above.