NEWS

SEAT has promised to put a sporting slant on Volkswagen’s Up when it introduces its version next summer. The Spanish brand’s UK managing director told Car Dealer that Seat engineers will be given the freedom to ‘tune the driveability’ of the city car before it’s introduced. ‘We always aim to make our products the most [...]

THREE new car dealerships, including flagship Volkswagen and Volvo showrooms, are to open in Solihull. The dealerships will be based on a former restaurant after it was acquired by Johnsons Cars. Colliers International acquired the four acre site which includes a 50,000 sq ft building, from Gallagher Developments on behalf of Johnsons Cars. The building [...]

VOLKSWAGEN UK has announced they have appointed a new managing director. Simon Thomas (51) succeeds Robin Woolcock (63), who will be taking up a new assignment within the Volkswagen Group. Thomas started his career with Austin Rover Group in 1984, working in a variety of roles in sales, service and the fleet business. In 1991 Thomas joined [...]

VOLKSWAGEN’S revised Tiguan compact SUV’s order book opens today with prices kicking off at £21,085. Customer deliveries for the revised car are expected to arrive in September and prices top out at £28,020. Along with facelifted looks, the new Tiguan also features for the first time keyless entry and start system, lane Assist, light assist, and XDS [...]

From delivery driver to MD, Alan Day Volkswagen’s boss has had a remarkable career path. JAMES BATCHELOR chats to him Paul Tanner joined the motor industry 24 years ago and has remained in it ever since. ‘I joined Alan Day Volkswagen as a parts driver in 1987 when I was 19 years old. In actual [...]

Re-designed and updated for its seventh incarnation, the Passat is a key model for Volkswagen. James Batchelor reports. WHAT IS IT? This is the new seventh-generation Passat and yes, you might have noticed, it now wears Volkswagen’s corporate face first shown on the Golf MkVI. But while the front and rear now have ‘the look’, [...]

THE latest chapter in VW’s most iconic model has been opened this week with the launch of a brand new Beetle. Unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show, the all-new car steps away from the current generation Beetle’s looks – which date from 1998. Instead the new Beetle takes the look of the 2005 Beetle Ragster [...]

A SALES executive is celebrating after winning an exclusive annual award for the second successive year. Simon Davis, who works at Bury’s Volkswagen retailer, Smith Knight Fay, was presented with the prize of ‘sales executive of the year’ for the 13 northern branches of Inchcape’s Volkswagen retailers. The 29-year-old beat off competition from more than [...]

THE Volkswagen Golf was the surprise winner in February’s sales tables, SMMT figures reveal. Sales of VW’s mid-sized hatchback topped more than 2,700 – up from fifth place in January. The Corsa followed in second with 2,617 sales, while January’s winner, the Ford Focus, dropped to third registering 2,483 cars. The Ford Fiesta fell to [...]

THE Ford Focus regained the number one spot in January’s sales tables, SMMT figures reveal. Sales of Ford’s mid-sized hatchback topped more than 7,500 sold – up four places on December’s figures. The Fiesta followed in second while December’s winner, the Vauxhall Astra, dropped to third. The Griffin-badged hatchback’s younger brother, the Corsa, fell to [...]

HERON Volkswagen Group has been sold to Gilder Group for an undisclosed sum ASE’s Dealermatch has announced. Heron, who represented Volkswagen Cars, Commercial vehicles and also TPS, has been established in Newark for more than 20 years. The group’s sale was the result of the directors of the business wanting to retire from the industry. [...]

A decade-and-a-half is a long time in anyone’s book, especially when it comes to cars. Quite how Volkswagen’s Sharan got away with being with us for so long is beyond us. Granted it may have had the odd nip and tuck here and there, but up until now it was essentially the same car underneath. [...]

VOLKSWAGEN’s prototype electric Golf blue-e-motion has won the inaugural Future Car Challenge.  The car also won its category, Most Economic and Environment Friendly Regular Passenger EV. Driven by Jim Holder, Editor of What Car? and Volkswagen engineer Folko Rohde, the Golf blue-e-motion won the event in which participants had to travel from Brighton to London. [...]

VOLKSWAGEN has broken the world record for the longest distance travelled by a production car on a single tank of fuel. Piloted by a team from The Sunday Times, a Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion set a Guinness World Record after driving from Maidstone in Kent to the South of France and back again on one tank [...]

VOLKSWAGEN has bought the Mk7 Passat to the Paris Motor Show in a genuine world-first showing. Boasting a chiselled new look, it’s flashier than before. We think it looks pretty high end and Phaeton-like compared to the subdued old one; there’s LED running lights and lots of sharp edges. But don’t be fooled. It’s not [...]

VOLKSWAGEN Van Centres in the UK have been honoured as aftersales importer of the year by the firm. The award from VW AG is a worldwide one, meaning UK Van Centres are world champions! Staff training over here was particularly highly praised: the UK Van Centre network has a record number of Master Technicians. Judges [...]

RENAULT is the big winner in European car sales, but the market overall is down by more than 8 percent. JATO Dynamics blames poor sales in Germany, which means the year-to-date EU market improvement has fallen to below 3 percent. The UK market was up, though, and Spain offered encouragement by bucking the recession in [...]

VOLKSWAGEN has helped 6000 South African car production staff mark the arrival of the World Cup. 4 special roadshows have helped get workers at the Uitenhage plant get in the mood. They also won’t miss a minute of football action, because VW has installed big TVs in the production plant. The staff have also been [...]

EUROPEAN car sales fell 6.7 percent in April as scrappage schemes ended across many nations. Germany’s scrappage scheme ended a while back – Italy’s now has too, meaning both markets have actually started falling. After its recent success, JATO Dynamics says it is Ford that’s been hit. Sales of the blue oval have not only [...]

VOLKSWAGEN Financial Services is now using 1Link Disposal Network’s ecommerce solution for end-of-contract repatriation. VW Group lease vehicles are now fed back into the Volkswagen car dealer franchise network using the innovative solution developed by epyx. Ken Trinder, head of business development at epyx, said it’s part of a trend among manufacturers to ensure that [...]