Having just got used to the Mark V VW Golf, which has been around for some months in Europe, but has only recently begun to arrive in the US, VW are already planning the Mark VI which it is thought to be a substantially different to the current model and in fact the whole Golf ideal, but is this a good thing? VW had virtually created the “hot hatch” marketplace when they introduced the VW Golf GTI Mark One, so is it wise to mess with something that has really established the Golf as a mid sized car that appeals to so many different car buyers simply because of the range of choice, at the moment there are seven models starting with the “S” (£12K or $23K) and leading up to the top of the range “R32” (£26K or $50K) which gives the Golf a range of customers that come from across the board.

In an attempt the cut production costs, VW will probably reduce the amount of choice in models and in engines, this will help production and save money at the save time as they will not need to develop to many new systems and lose out on production simply because they are making to many different models which in turn will reduce the amount of cars in each category they can make. The new designs will mainly focus on slight body modifications, and the integration of more technology into the car dashboard, like the possibility of an iPod jack and communications such as Bluetooth and Satellite Navigations systems, these are the most desirable extras now days, so it is only practical to include them into the buying package.

It is believed that the new VW Golf Mark VI will be designed, built and ready for the open road by the third quarter of 2008, which in car terms is well ahead of the schedule expected considering that they have only just started arriving in the states, it would appear that VW have been forced to move their plans forward maybe by a couple of years, for some reason or other, but there has been much speculation about the future of VW over the past year or so, which would account for them bringing forward this model in order to save money and therefore make the whole company stronger for years to come.

Source [Automobile Mag]