|
It's the all-new Touareg, which was supposed to go public ahead of sales later this year and an unveiling of Porsche's take on the giant four-wheel drive with its new Cayenne at the Geneva Motor Show next month. But the Touareg is overtaken by a surprising Golf-based concept car in Detroit.
It's called the New Concept Coupe and it lifts the bar on Volkswagen hybrids, but it is - in reality - a thinly disguised Jetta. The NCC's appearance in Motown reflects the double-edged importance of the compact coupe in the USA, firstly as a hybrid flagship but secondly as a tease for a four-door sedan that is even more important than the Golf.
The Jetta is vital to Volkswagen of America and the side-on profile of the NCC — ignoring the break for the longer coupe door — is a very elegant approach to a four-door sedan. It's not as good looking as VW's biggest surprise of 2009, the Passat CC, but it is good.
The lines of the NCC also show a sharper edge than the Golf, and that is an approach likely to be reflected in the production car that will be unveiled within two months. Still, for now, Volkswagen Australia is not saying much about the NCC.
"It's a concept. We cannot offer anything much beyond that," says Karl Gehling, spokesman for VW Group Australia. "It's the next phase in Volkswagen's green program. It's a big step in terms of going to a full hybrid. It's interesting that there's a split with Touareg, which has a diesel hybrid, and now having hybrid petrol as well in the NCC."
The preview of the NCC begins a year when Volkswagen plans more new models globally than at any other time in its history. Beyond the Touareg and Jetta, the list is likely to include a second Beetle and a new compact sports car. Switching back to the NCC, Volkswagen says its hybrid powerpack is built around a 110 kiloWatt TSI petrol engine coupled to a 20 kiloWatt electric motor.
The result is economy of 4.2L/100km, CO2 emissions of 98g/km, a top speed of 227km/h and a 0-100km/h sprint in 8.1 seconds. Volkswagen says the NCC is sporty and fun to drive and shows "both technically and visually, how Volkswagen envisions a front-wheel drive hybrid for the compact class".
The NCC can be a pure electric car for city use and, like most Lexus hybrids, use its electric motor to boost the performance of the petrol powerplant.
|
