Volkswagen brought out its Jetta in the year 1980. Jetta has captivated the car lovers since its launch 28 years ago. The German carmaker baptised its model as Jetta after the Jet Stream, the sedan version of Volkswagen’s innovative compact the Golf. The Jetta was developed for the North American market. It is an upscale model with nicer interior trim, a trunk, and a slightly higher price than the Golf. Since its debut in 1980, Jetta has undergone serious changes five times, each generation growing in size, power, and prestige. The Jetta is available in two, four, and five door variations.

The first-generation Jetta, known as the A1 was available in the market from 1980 to 1984. It was available as a two-door coupe and four-door sedan and was styled by ItalDesign. The marvellously boxy designed had a standard four-cylinder engine producing 78 horsepower powered the A1 Jetta. The Jetta’s power plant was updated to a higher torque producing 1.7-liter four-cylinder in 1981. The second generation, and longest running generation of the car, came out in1985 and were available until 1992. The A2 was offered as a coupe or a sedan and had a number of exterior, interior, engine, and safety upgrades. A 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine producing originally 100 horsepower and later 105 horsepower powered the base models of the A2.

The A3 Jetta made its debut for the North American market in 1993. This car from Volkswagen was only offered as a sedan. The A3 Jetta was produced through 1998. It was available in trim variations, 13, then any other generation of the car. The A3 Jetta had three power plants offered.  The fourth evolution of the Jetta, the A4, came out in 1998 and existed till 2005. This Jetta shares its styling with the rest of the Volkswagen marquee. It served as an outstanding example of the trademark. It was offered in a variety of trim variations and buyers had the choice of three different power plants. The A5 Jetta made its debut in 2005 and is still in production.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites Tags: Cars, Sedan, Coupe, North America, cylinder, engine power, Germany, horsepower, Golf, Volkswagen Jetta, debut, five door, trademark

Volkswagen has introduced new models from time to time. The Grman auto giant, over the past decades created a secured space in the automobile market with its astonishing looks and features. In the new millenium, VW launched out models that continued its truimphin the world market. Volkswagen introduced an array of new models after Bernd Pischetsrieder took over the charge as Volkswagen Group CEO in 2002. The fifth generation VW Golf came out in 2004.

It fought with competing models including Fiat Panda,  SEAT Toledo, Škoda Octavia and Audi A3 hatchback ranges.

VW brought out Golf under the Rabbit name once again in the U.S. and Canada in June 2006. The fifth-generation Jetta, and the performance version, the GLI, also were seen in the United States and Canada market. The sixth-generation Passat and the fifth-generation Jetta both marked its debut in 2005. VW has announced plans to bring back the Scirocco by 2008. In November 2006 Bernd Pischetsrieder resigned as Volkswagen Group CEO, and was replaced by Audi worldwide CEO Martin Winterkorn at the beginning of 2007. Recently the sports car manufacturer Porsche has announced its plan to buy the majority of Volkswagen’s stock, thus becoming the new owner of Volkswagen. The fifth-generation Passat, has made a facelift from the 1998-01 model.

VW had to face a lot of challenges in North America, rising significantly between 1998 and 2001, VW’s North American sales fell sharply in 2005 of roughly US$1 billion. In 2002, Volkswagen announced the debut of luxury car Phaeton,  which was critically acclaimed but not well received. In conjunction with the introduction of new models, production location of Volkswagen vehicles also underwent serious changes.

Volkswagen is considered as one of the leading small diesel engine manufacturers, and has offered a number of its vehicles with a TDI Turbocharged Direct Injection engine.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites Tags: Car, Audi, Volkswagen, North America, automobile, Germany, Canada, Passat, Phaeton, Scirocco, CEO