Volkswagen Polo 2013 News

Volkswagen issues recall for potentially explosive airbag, while Mitsubishi rectifies defective side-steps.

US owners of VW cars with diesel engines that can cheat emissions tests have already been given $500, but local owners still have no compensation.

Three weeks after the global scandal broke, Australian owners of VW diesel cars finally know if their car is affected or not.

A vote by 75 motoring journalists from 22 countries has awarded the compact prestige car the World Car of the Year award for 2015.It finished on top of a 24-car field and eventually beat the two other finalists, the Ford Mustang and Volkswagen Passat.The other big prizes for 2015, Green Car of the Year and Performance Car of the Year, went to the plug-in hybrid BMW i8 and the Mercedes-AMG GT coupe.The winners were announced at the New York Motor Show today at an event hosted by Bridgestone Corporation and Autoneum at the culmination of a six-month voting process.The C-Class delivers levels of refinement, luxury, safety, ride and handling that challenge best-in-class.The awards are in their 11th year and previous winners include the Audi A6, BMW 3 Series, Lexus LS460 and Volkswagen Golf, Polo and Up.To be eligible for the overall World Car award, candidate cars must have become available for sale on at least two continents between January 1, 2014 and May 31, 2015.The WCOTY wins by Mercedes-Benz follow its victories in the Green Car contest in 2007 with the E320 Bluetec and 2012 with the S 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY and its Luxury Car success with the S Class in 2014.“We are extremely delighted of winning the honour of World Car of the Year,” says the chairman of Daimler, Dr Dieter Zetsche.The WCOTY victory follows a similar success for the C-Class in the CarsGuide Car of the Year award.The WCOTY judging panel says: “Taking its design and technological cues from the S-Class, the C-Class employs an all-new aluminium/steel hybrid platform and updated rear-drive powertrains that delivers levels of refinement, luxury, safety, ride and handling that challenge best-in-class.” WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2015Overall winner: Mercedes-Benz C-ClassGreen Car: BMW i8Performance Car: Mercedes-AMG GTLuxury Car: Mercedes-Benz S CoupeDesign: Citroen CactusPREVIOUS WORLD COTY WINNERS:2014: Audi A32013: Volkswagen Golf2012: Volkswagen Up2011: Nissan Leaf2010: Volkswagen Polo2009: Volkswagen Golf2008: Mazda22007: Lexus LS4602006: BMW 3 Series2005: Audi A6

THE Audi A3 small car -- which owes much of its DNA to the Volkswagen Golf -- has won the 2014 World Car of the Year, as voted by 69 jurors from 22 countries. The luxury hatch toppled the widely-tipped favourite, the Mazda3 from Japan, in the awards announced at the New York motor show today.The Audi A3 was among five German cars that took out a cleansweep of the 2014 World Car of the Year categories, and it was Audi’s second win in 10 years, having won the inaugural award. Indeed, German cars have won seven of the past 10 World Car of the Year awards, Japanese brands have won the remaining three.Accepting the award on behalf of the company, Audi's North America president Scott Keogh said: “The Audi A3 has only been on sale three weeks and already it’s off to a flying start.”Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi, said: “This major award win is an achievement that the whole company can celebrate.”The Audi A3 was among 24 finalists that included the BMW i3 electric car, which won the Green Car of the Year and the Car Design of the Year. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class was the Luxury Car of the Year while the Porsche 911 GT3 was awarded top performance car honours.But the Mazda3 had emerged as an early favourite for the outright World Car of the Year award following rave reviews globally since it went on sale late last year. The previous generation Mazda3 has been Australia’s top selling car for two of the past three years, and was the vehicle that ended the Holden Commodore’s record 15-years as the market leader, in 2011.The Mazda3 is returned to the top of the sales charts so far this year -- after being overtaken by the Toyota Corolla in 2013 -- and is likely to take out top-seller status this year buoyed by the new model which went on sale in January.World car of the year winners2014 – Audi A32013 -- Volkswagen Golf Mk72012 -- Volkswagen Up2011 -- Nissan Leaf2010 -- Volkswagen Polo2009 -- Volkswagen Golf Mk62008 -- Mazda22007 -- Lexus LS4602006 -- BMW 3 Series2005 -- Audi A62014 World Car of The Year category winnersGreen car of the Year -- BMW i3 electric carCar Design of the Year -- BMW i3 electric carPerformance Car of the Year -- Porsche 911 GT3Luxury Car of the Year – Mercedes-Benz S-ClassThis reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

Look hard at this car. It's Volkswagen's next hatchback. Well, maybe look under the skin. It's the substance of the XL1 rather than the outlandish form that we'll see in VW's small, affordable passenger cars before the calendar flips to decade three.While the limited run XL1 is on sale in Europe for some $160,000 to collectors and the uber green, its essence will run tomorrow's Ups, Polos, Golfs and more besides. The trick is to look past the hip level height, carbon fibre body, gull wing doors and to see the plug-in electric battery on which it can run for 50km alone and the two-cylinder diesel engine which stretches the range for a further 500.This combo makes for emission free city travel and open road travel at some 0.9 litres per 100km, though it can motor at 160km/h. Hence the company label "1.0-litre car" - of which the XL1 is the showroom precursor - refers not to capacity but range.Having clambered through the Bladerunner doors, you could be in almost any contemporary VW, albeit the brand's only two seater. The switchgear and most of the dials are from the Golf, the wheel is pure GTI, the gear stick operates a seven speed DSG auto, the removable Garmin multi-media screen is found in the Up.There's no mirrors and no need for them - two rear facing cameras, one mounted in each door eliminate blind spots. That should be disorientating and so it is for about 30 seconds at which point it replaces intuition.That's also  so of the drive. The XL1 glides as silently as any electric vehicle though a good deal more efficiently than any on the road with almost on-existent wind resistance. Amid the plethora of innovation there's at least one delightful old world note. The steering is purely mechanical, entirely devoid of assistance, just like a Lotus or my 1971 Kingswood.Merging onto to the autobahn, the diesel engine is engaged via finger tip on the Garmin. It chugs crudely but almost immediately into life, ensuring that you needn't remain on the inside lane for long. When our brief test  is over, I'm exhilarated in a way that only some fast and fabulous cars have made me.Parked nearby the XL1 at Bensburg Castle near Cologne this week, where VW runs a pre Frankfurt Show event, is a Bugatti Veyron - the outrageous 16-cylinder quad turbo supercar. Haven't driven one of those. Probably won't.But it's proximity makes you realise the XL1 is every bit as much a supercar in its own sense. And while it is the single most expensive VW in the brand's near 80-year history, its heart and lungs will be part of your and my driving reality. 

Jost Capito joined Volkswagen in May of 2012 as the head of Volkswagen’s motorsports division. Prior to this, Capito worked at Ford, where he was head of its Global Performance Vehicles group, and ultimately the man responsible for products like the Ford Focus RS.In other words, he knows a thing or two about making cars go fast, as well as building cars that are slightly over-the-top. Now that he’s settled in at Volkswagen, Whatcar is reporting that Capito wants to expand VW’s performance car offerings, and we say that’s a very good thing.In addition to getting the Polo WRC car ready for the 2013 Monte Carlo Rally, Capito is expected to take on more responsibility for the development of future production cars. While the Polo R (set to debut at next year’s Geneva Motor Show) is a given, we see potential in VW models ranging from the GTI through the Passat and even the Touareg.Rumors of a higher-performance, lightweight GTI are already circulating, though the car is likely to be limited in production. Could the processes developed for this car (like the blending of carbon fiber, aluminum and steel in assembly) be applied to future VW models?Our guess would be yes. The key to future performance Volkswagens will be saving weight as much as boosting power, and the lessons learned from VW’s WRC efforts could pay dividends here.In Capito’s words, “I have always had the view that the production cars have to support and reflect what is happening on the circuits and rally stages. I implemented that at Ford, and that view hasn’t changed now that I’m at VW.By definition it would mean more than the Polo R.” Capito went on to clarify that his immediate focus is on getting ready for the 2013 WRC season. Beyond that, however, the future for Volkswagen enthusiasts is starting to look bright.www.motorauthority.com  

A hotted up ‘R’ version of the Volkswagen Polo, essentially a smaller version of the recently launched Golf R, has been rumoured to be in development for close to two years. Volkswagen has previously denied such a model, maintaining it would prove too costly for buyers in the sub-compact segment. However, at the annual GTI Meeting at Wörthersee earlier this year, Volkswagen rolled out the Polo R WRC Street Concept, essentially a road-going version of its Polo WRC car that will be competing in the World Rally Championship from 2013 onwards. Now, there are reports claiming the production Polo R will make its official world debut at March’s 2013 Geneva Motor Show, before going on sale shortly afterwards. Speaking with Autocar, Volkswagen R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg confirmed the Polo R would debut at the Geneva show, with its launch coinciding with the automaker’s WRC entry. He went on to reveal that the car’s introduction is due to the desire of VW’s motorsport division, which is hoping to draw attention to its WRC efforts, and that originally VW had no plans to launch such a model. Like the Polo R WRC Street Concept, the production Polo R will get a tuned version of the turbocharged 155kW/280Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine from the outgoing MkVI Golf GTI. Peak output will be tuned up to around 168kW of power, which should give it a nice edge over the 132kW Polo GTI but keep it under the Golf R’s 188kW/330Nm. To ensure it doesn’t encroach on the performance of its Golf R big brother, the Polo R will remain a front-wheel drive model, though it will still benefit from a mechanical limited-slip differential. Expect a 0-100km/h time of around 6.0 seconds (the Golf GTI does 6.9, while the Golf R dispatches it in 5.9) and a top speed of 242km/h.www.motorauthority.com   

But it won't be next year. We will have to wait until the 2013 season to see another (highly competitive) make in the premium A1 class of WRC. VW last week unveiled the concept of the Polo R WRC, the car with which it will compete from 2013 onwards.With "the hottest Polo of all time" VW is looking forward to this new challenge and is working on the project with the same passion with which it won the Dakar Rally in the past three years. VW will leverage its involvement in the Dakar for its WRC campaign.The race car will have a 230kW, 1.6-litre, TSI engine and four-wheel drive based on the Polo. New technical rules have come into effect in the WRC this year. For the first time, engines with a maximum displacement of 1,600 cc, direct injection and turbochargers are prescribed.These new regulations are an ideal fit for Volkswagen's production car philosophy - downsizing, high efficiency and reliability are top priorities. VW will prepare and enter the Polo R WRC as a factory commitment.The Wolfsburg-based squad can build on structures which have been established over the past few years.

On display for the first time in Australia, the pint-sized, but power-packed, Polo GTI is sure to live up to its legendary name thanks to crisp handling, uncompromising engine responsiveness, impressive safety features and excellent fuel economy. Never before has such a powerful Polo come even close to the fuel efficiency of this GTI. Thanks to clever downsizing of the twincharged 1.4-litre TSI engine (turbo plus supercharging) and the extremely efficient seven-speed dual clutch DSG gearbox, the development team was able to deliver official fuel consumption of just 6.1 litres per 100km together with a low CO² output of just 142g/km. By comparison, its direct predecessor – equipped with a 1.8-litre turbo engine − consumed 8-litres per 100km and 190g/km CO²). This new car is an incredible 24 percent more fuel efficient. This economy is matched by highly dynamic driving performance. The light 1189kg Polo GTI accelerates to 100km/h in just 6.9 seconds. Power is transferred to the front wheels via the standard DSG transmission. An electronic transverse differential lock reduces understeer and improves handling during demanding cornering. Like all Polos, the GTI also comes equipped with ESP standard – including Hill Start Assist. The car’s extensive safety-features list consists of a highly effective airbag network, including front, front-side and curtain airbags, belt pre-tensioners with load limiters plus belt warning, head restraints designed to avoid whiplash trauma (in front) and three rear head restraints. The Polo GTI’s convenience features include electro-hydraulic power steering, electric windows, remote central locking, boot-space lighting and tie-down eyes, driver seat height adjustment, make-up mirror in the sun visors and green-tinted insulating glass. The GTI will be the first Polo to be available with bi-xenon headlights with cornering lights, LED daytime running lights and corner marker lights. Naturally, GTI-specific features are always standard too, such as sports seats and 17-inch alloy wheels.