Autoblog UK

Volkswagen are girding up their loins to take on the might of market leader Toyota. Over the next three years, they intend to plough €25.8bn into their car making business. Following the integration of Porsche, the group has now taken over Karmann. The Wolfsburg-based giant will be setting up a new subsidiary to manage its involvement in the insolvent supplier company and plans to retain more than 1,000 of the present Karmann workforce. Volkswagen have secured machinery, plant and premises from the former open-top specialist manufacturer and also have ideas for a new vehicle project. Despite the global downturn, Volkswagen are set to produce 6.2 million units during the current financial year.

Two cars shared this year's eco prize – the Toyota Prius and the VW Blue Motion. Toyota's most fuel efficient hybrid car and Volkswagen's world-beating fuel economy car took the honours for this award, which has been in existence for only three years. The two winners beat the other finalists, the Ford Mondeo LPG, the Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid and the Smart Car2Go, to the prize.

Advertising should attract attention but you can go too far. In a new advert on TV, Volkswagen shows a man who kills himself simply because he didn't get to own the new Scirocco.

The main character in the British Volkswagen commercial has lost everything. At the casino, he put his money on black and red came up. He moved into gold just as the clever money moved out, and now he's ruined both financially and mentally. He decides to end his miserable life.

That's a summary of the storyline of a new VW Scirocco commercial broadcast on the famous British motoring magazine show Top Gear. The message is clear: if only the man had waited for the launch of the new Scirocco, things would have gone better and he wouldn't have topped himself. To quote from their ad: "Life is not so bad!" The producers of the commercial think that their work is plain and straightforward. Tasteless and provocative, say many British viewers about the depiction of suicide on screen. Find out for yourself. Take a look at the new Scirocco TV clip. Should something like this be broadcast? Top Gear presenter and humorist Jeremy Clarkson seems to think so...

The VW Polo took the Golden Steering Wheel award in the small car category. The VW Polo has been around since 1975. The mark 5 version of Volkswagen's small car was launched in 2009. The Polo is available as a 3 or 5 door hatchback saloon. In its original form, it was sparsely equipped. The Polo is now much bigger than the first model. Visually, the new Polo with its broad C-pillars suggesting sturdiness and its wide stance, takes its cues from the current VW Golf. The Polo beat off the following cars: Ford Ka, Suzuki Alto, Hyundai i20, Toyota iQ, Citroen C2 und Nissan Pixo.

It looks as though open-top specialist Karmann has been thrown a lifeline. Volkswagen have offered the insolvent company a rescue package in the form of a takeover. Apparently, talks are well advanced between the Wolfsburg giant and the north German niche manufacturer. The sticking point appears to be the price, with Karmann claiming to be worth 65 million euros. It is also not quite clear which parts of the company VW intend to swallow up. Karmann currently has a 1,600-strong workforce, 800 of whom are facing immediate redundancy.

The Osnabrück-based carmaker boasts a long tradition stretching back to the year 1901. The most famous model ever produced was the Karmann Ghia in the 1950s, a coupé version of the VW Beetle. Production of this vehicle, which achieved cult status around the globe, came to an end in the 1970s. Since 1949, Karmann have been manufacturing complete cars in small production runs, totalling 3.3 million units over the six decades.

With this particular Golf, it's not so much a question of the g-force that thrusts the driver back into his seat or the number of decibels that the exhaust can generate. The vital statistics that matter with the new Golf BlueMotion are as follows: 74mpg (3.8 litres per 100km) diesel and CO2 emissions of 99 g/km. This not only makes it the thriftiest Golf of all time but also takes it to the top of the class in terms of eco-friendliness. Obviously such superlatives come at a price, though the basic version at 21,650 euros will cost only around 1,000 euros more than the standard TDI.

The extra money buys you such BlueMotion features as 'recuperation' (kinetic energy recovery from the brakes), a start-stop system, tyres that have been optimised for rolling resistance and aerodynamically streamlined bodywork. These additional specifications get the 1.6L TDI engine down below the magic consumption and emission thresholds of four litres per 100 km and 100 grams per km. Furthermore, the five-speed gearbox has been given a longer power transmission and you have the option of allowing the onboard computer to recommend gear shifts. According to VW, series production is due to commence in early November. The first vehicles should arrive in the showrooms around the middle of the month.

How time flies. The new Beetle has been around since 1998. In 2012, some fourteen years after its introduction, Volkswagen will build a mark two version of the modern Beetle. Rumour has it that this new Beetle has grown just a little. Rear, back seat and boot will afford more room. Furthermore, it will be marketed at a competitive price, which should help VW to return to its roots, building cars which almost everyone can afford.

The fifth generation of the Polo has proved so popular that it is crowding out the small car market. Its two major competitors, the Opel Corsa and the Ford Fiesta, have also had recent makeovers, but they are going to have a tough time against this rising star. Because this 'miniature Golf' makes all the merits of its bigger brother available to the purchaser on a reduced budget. In terms of design, it may not be quite as thrilling, but it is just as timeless; the quality of finishing is as good as anything in the pricier mid-range; they have at last come up with decent safety specification and are offering a choice of no fewer than half a dozen engines. Plus it is a bit roomier this time round.

This latest reincarnation has spread out in two of three dimensions without having got any heavier. On the contrary, those clever carmakers in Wolfsburg have managed to improve the crash structure whilst trimming up to 7.5 percent off the overall weight. Lengthwise, the newcomer has grown by four centimetres, but still stays 5cm within the four-metre mark. And it has got wider too. Three extra centimetres of track width not only make it more stable on the road but also improve the overall looks and give everyone inside just a little more elbow room. In the third dimension – headroom – it has shrunk ever so slightly.

With the new Polo, Volkswagen have brought a small car onto the market that has very little in common with the original (rather Spartan) model of the same name. Providing you can dispense with a couple of centimetres in length and a modicum of comfort, you are probably better off with a Polo than with big brother Golf – plus you are going to save a lot of money. The 1975 Polo was a makeshift solution adapted from the Audi 50. This infant came on by leaps and bounds, 10.6 million having since rolled off the production lines. After the Golf, the Polo stands on equal footing with the Passat as the third pillar of Volkswagen's success. This fifth edition is set to compete with the Golf (Europe's most popular car by sales volume) as never before. We present a historical record of how the VW compact has developed over the decades.

By 2013 at the latest, Volkswagen plan to bring a model onto the market with zero emissions at point of use. CEO Martin Winterkorn made this announcement as the Frankfurt Motor Show got underway. VW have lagged behind the rest in the move to embrace the electric car, but there are indications that things could now get lively on this front, with the E-Up! becoming VW's ecological standard bearer as the launch date of 2011 for their new small family car approaches.

The E-Up! is intended to show how an electrically powered urban runabout from VW might look. The vehicle has shrunk from its original design to 3.19 metres in length. Because VW have moved the front passenger seat relatively far forward, there is now room on that side of the car for two adults to travel in comfort. Rather like the iQ from Toyota, the E-Up! is best described as a 3+1-seater. The power is stored in a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 18 kilowatt hours – enough for an 80-mile journey (130 kilometres). VW claim a top speed for the prototype of 83mph (135 km/h).