VW now focusing on small budget cars

Published April 23, 2009
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Volkswagen will build a family car based on the concept Up! This would be the first low-cost family model from the German automaker stable. The car, to be built at the Slovakia plant will be introduced in the market by 2011 and will include strong environmental features, keeping in terms with the 2010 emission norms.

Chairman of the VW Group, Dr Martin Winterkorn said "Our team at Volkswagen in Slovakia is ideally prepared to provide the flexibility required for the production of the New Small Family".

The company will invest about 308 million euros (400 million dollars) in building the new model. Though the Up! has a rear-engine, the 'new small family' (as VW calls it) will feature a front engines and front wheel drive after development and cost issues put paid to the original engineering plan.

It means there will be Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda versions of the small city cars all built under the same roof.

Adding further, Winterkorn said "Because all three brands will share the component and development costs involved in creating these small cars, it's likely that all three will be very cheap to buy but marketed slightly differently to suit each brand. They will also be extremely cheap to run and efficient, with 70mpg-plus and sub 100g/km CO2 emissions a distinct possibility from a new range of small TSI engines that VW is thought to be developing."

Until now, family-oriented vehicles have not been a strong focus of VW's model lineup.

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