WASHINGTON (AP) — Volkswagen of America Inc. is recalling 362,000 Jetta and New Beetle sedans because the brake lights could malfunction and lead to a crash.

The automaker said in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week that the brake light switches in the vehicles could malfunction if they were improperly installed during a previous recall.

The light could either remain on or not function, which would fail to provide other motorists with the proper braking signal and potentially lead to a crash.

Read the full story here!

May 8 (Bloomberg) — Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, said its U.S. sales of cars with diesel engines reached a record 22 percent last month.

“We think the numbers reflect a growing awareness of the potential fuel savings diesel-powered vehicles offer and a growing acceptance of diesel in the U.S.,'’ Steve Keyes, Volkswagen’s U.S. communications chief, said in an interview on May 5.

Volkswagen is betting on increased diesel sales to help return the Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker to profit in the U.S., where the company posted losses the last three years. Volkswagen’s overall sales in the U.S., the world’s largest automobile market, last month rose 11 percent to 20,528 vehicles, with its market share gaining to 1.4 percent from 1.2 percent.

Read the full story at bloomberg.com here!

Last month, Volkswagen AG announced production of the 14 millionth Passat. The sedan, a silver Passat Variant (read: ‘wagon’), was manufactured at the Emden facility.

“The Passat guarantees safety, quality and economy”, said Siegfried Fiebig, plant manager at Emden. VW delivered 600,000 Passats worldwide in 2005 and the vehicle is currently the most successful sedan in Germany.

Words - Russell Williamson

If Bora was boring, does the Jetta tag provide a hint as to this new VW’s perfomance?

7-day Test

Model: 2006 Volkswagen Jetta TDI manual
RRP: $35,490
Price as tested: $36,180 (Pearl-effect paint $690)
Distance covered: 670kms
Road tester: Russell Williamson
Date tested: April 2006

Jetta may be an unfamiliar name to Australians but for over 20 years it has been the name by which Americans and South Africans have known the sedan version of the Golf.

First developed with the US market in mind, the Jetta was launched there in 1980 and although it was sold in Europe, it became the Vento on the Continent in 1991 followed by the Bora in 1998.

The first Australians saw of the small sedan was the Vento that was briefly sold here in 1995-96 before the Bora — based on the Golf IV platform — arrived in 1999. Named after a gusty cold wind, the Bora hardly blew the local market away as its high price — starting at over $40,000 at launch — and very average dynamics didn’t manage to entice the premium buyers Volkswagen anticipated.

To herald the arrival of the new, vastly improved car — based on the Golf V platform — VW decided to drop the Bora name and go with the international moniker of Jetta.And the name change certainly seems to be working with the car having already notched up more sales in its first two months on sale than the Bora did for the whole of 2005.

But at the heart of the car’s success is not the name change but rather the product.With Volkswagen pushing hard on the diesel front — it now has a diesel variant in each of its model lines — CarPoint chose to spend a week in the midrange 2.0-litre TDI turbodiesel. It sits between the entry-level 2.0-litre FSI (with which it shares the same spec level) and range topping 2.0-litre turbo FSI petrol models.

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This guy stuck a JET ENGINE on his VW Beetle. 1450 Horsepower anyone?

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