The Golf is and remains the most successful car in Europe. The launch of the new Golf is exceeding all expectations. Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG: “Since the launch of the Mk 7, our dealers have already taken over 100,000 orders for the new Golf. Despite the changeover from the Mk 6 to the Mk 7 and the associated production line adjustments, we have once again shipped more than 800,000 units this year. No other European car enjoys such success.”
Nor has any other car been number 1 for so long: the Golf has topped the list of best-selling cars in Europe continuously for nine years, while it has been market leader for no less than 37 years in Germany! It also leads the way in countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway and Austria. In 2013, Volkswagen will further cement and build on this position, not least with the debut of the new Golf estate, which will be celebrating its world premiere in early March at the Geneva Motor Show.
The Golf success story is without parallel. Since its launch 38 years ago, in purely arithmetic terms over 2,000 people have bought a Golf somewhere on the planet every day. 29.4 million units – as hatchbacks, convertibles, estates or the Golf Plus – have so far been produced. The Golf can be found on all five continents in over 120 countries around the world.
Like its predecessors, the new Golf too is coming through the major car magazines’ comparison tests as a serial winner. In tests run by German magazines ‘auto motor und sport’, ‘Auto Bild’, ‘Auto Zeitung’ and ‘Auto Straßenverkehr’ the Golf Mk 7 beat all key competitors hands down. The Volkswagen scores here not only with its quality, comfort, lowest fuel consumption and emission levels and good powertrain characteristics, but also in the most important of all ratings: safety. In a comparative test that the Volkswagen won in November against twelve core rivals one of the magazines, for example, gave the following verdict: “Thanks not least to its sensational braking figures (warm: 33 metres), the Volkswagen is at super sports car level in terms of handling, at the front of the field.”
With the Golf Volkswagen made safety technologies such as ABS, airbags and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) accessible to a wider public. Now on board the new Golf comes a whole series of further driver assistance systems. These include multi-collision braking as standard, the proactive driver and passenger protection system (including automatic tautening of seatbelts and closing of windows), the XDS transverse differential lock, also fitted as standard, ACC adaptive cruise control plus Front Assist inclusive of city emergency brake function, Lane Assist, fatigue detection, the latest generation of the Park ¬Assist system and of the Dynamic Light Assist function (automated Xenon full beam).
The independent Euro NCAP organisation gave the new Golf four innovation awards for its safety systems. In addition it achieved the top mark of five stars in the Euro NCAP crash test. The ADAC also gave Volkswagen the ‘Yellow Angel’ innovation award for the multi-collision braking system. The new system, fitted as standard in the Golf, automatically slows down the vehicle after any serious collision in order to dissipate the remaining kinetic energy.
In this case too Volkswagen is with the Golf once again a pioneer in matters of safety. And that registers with car drivers: they make the Golf number 1 not only in new car registration statistics, but also when it comes to the major awards. The most recent instance being the ‘Auto Trophy’ in November, in which more than 110,000 readers of ‘Auto Zeitung’ took part. They decided with their votes that the new Golf is currently the best car in the compact category. Outside of Germany too the new Golf has been very well received by motoring experts: ‘Top Gear’ magazine gave it the 2012 ‘All-the-car-you’ll-ever-need’ Award in December, calling it the right car for every occasion.
