New car sales price VW Passat, Touareg

While VW managing director Anke Koeckler plainly call 2013 the "year of the Golf"' the current Mark VI is approaching the end of production.

She says the new model  to be unveiled at the Paris motor show in three weeks then driven by Carsguide  is not due here until the "second quarter of next year". Prior to that VW have the new Up city car, Alltrack edition of the Passat wagon later this year and the newest Beetle in February  all interesting, but likely marginal. Hence the value adding to these two stalwarts, with the prices remaining the same.

Rear view camera and sat-nav are standard on the model year 2013 entry level Passat with an automatic tailgate on the wagon. There's an optional package including  lane change assistant, bi-xenon headlights and Lane Assist.

Model year 2013 Touaregs also get better lights, bigger wheels and nicer leather. Standard across the SUV range is the Driver Fatigue System that's capable of detecting waning concentration warns recommending you take a break. But it's the Golf that inevitably commands most interest.

With some 900 sales it comprises almost a third of VW's monthly volume, which is up 30 per cent so far this year. Almost uniquely among the top 20 selling passenger cars, some 50 per cent of Golfs sales come from variants price at more than $35,000  although the range starts from as low as $22,990.

While the Mark VI is essentially a makeover of the previous model, which dates from 2004, Koekler promises the Mark VII represents a "double jump" in terms of technical progress being the first VW-badged product on the group’s new MQB platform.

This debuted with the closely-related but traditionally much more expensive Audi A3. The iconic Golf GTI, which makes up fully a quarter of sale as much or more than most markets  follows late in 2013.

Asked if VW, which has been criticised for quality issues and service costs, was retaining customers, Koekler says: "According to Roy Morgan we are number one at keeping customers in the brand. Product satisfaction is there. "We hope to sell almost 60,000 this year, which is double in three years."

VW Passat: $38,990 - $57,990

VW Touareg: $62,990 - $83,990