The next time you're on the road, take a careful look around you. Try and gauge how many VWs make up the traffic around you. What percentage or ratio do you think it is? 1 in 10? 12% perhaps. Well, the number that you're looking for is 20.4%. That's right, in 2019, Volkswagen South Africa enjoyed a 20.4% market share in the passenger car sector resulting in one in every five cars sold being a Volkswagen.
That's an impressive feat in anyone's books, especially in a market that is down over 5% year on year. Volkswagen is not one to rest on their laurels though and various members of the media were invited to a preview of their 2020 plans to share in their excitement as they launch new products, both of the automotive and technological kind.
Related: 2019 in Reviews: Bakkies, SUVs and Crossovers
Volkswagen We
Volkswagen We is the name given to the ecosystem that Volkswagen is introducing to bridge the gap between connected living and the vehicle ownership experience.
Volkswagen We will be rolling out in stages with certain functions more applicable to the foreign market, such as full-electric car sharing, package delivery services that will allow remote access to your car's boot as well as parking and charging location information. Locally, VW will start with the We Connect Go app.
The app will hold a variety of information about the vehicle and issue reminders for services and technical bulletins. It will help locate service stations and outlets with special offers for the VW owner, similar to familiar rewards systems such as eBucks. Furthermore, you will be able to monitor vehicle vitals such as fuel level and battery voltage, allowing you to plan accordingly.
Bundled in the app are features and gamification to help improve fuel consumption and track your trips, a handy feature that will allow for an exported PDF for you to submit to SARS come tax return time.
The We Connect App will communicate with the OBDII dongle that will be supplied with all new Volkswagen passenger vehicles from mid-2020 and will be backwardly compatible with models up to 2008 (excluding Polo Vivo) should current owners be interested in benefitting from this connected technology.
IQ.Drive
While some manufacturers have been pushing the autonomous driving schedule along at an ever-increasing rate, VW has been a little slower on the uptake. Addressing concerns from the buying public, Volkswagen is introducing IQ.Drive, a program that is designed to introduce customers to their Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) in a gradual manner.
Certain VW offerings carry Level 1 automation that includes the likes of Front Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist. Level 2 will see partial automation of the driving experience.
We will be seeing more Level 1 assistance systems rolling out from mid-2020 and in subsequent facelifts of existing models. We do know that the Golf 8 will feature Level 2 automation that will filter through to other models as well.
VW EasyDrive Plans
Formerly known as Volkswagen Automotion Plans, EasyDrive Plans is a rebrand and restructure of the service plans made available to Volkswagen owners, even those out of warranty.
The restructure and new design ensures that customers get the full VW experience through any Volkswagen dealership and safeguards them from inflation and rising maintenance costs. It offers more affordable pricing and can be extended up to 10 years or 300 000 km, in 30 000 km increments.
Electrification
Volkswagen was unable to give us a definitive answer as to when we will be seeing the first full-electric Volkswagen go on sale in South Africa but could confirm that the e-Golf is in fact in South Africa for testing and the ID.3 will touch down later this year.
Before you get excited, the South African market will not be seeing either of these cars and will most likely only see future iterations of these and those coming to SA this year will be used to test the market and feasibility in South Africa.
New models
While no additional information was shared on trim levels, specifics or pricing, we can confirm that South Africa will see the launch of the following models in 2020.
T-Roc
The T-Roc is scheduled to preview early in the second quarter of 2020 with the official launch and market introduction in Q3.
T-Cross 1.5 TSI
We will see the introduction of the T-Cross 1.5 TSI in the second quarter of 2020 as well, further bolstering the offerings available at present. Later in the quarter, we will also see the T-Cross 1.0 70 kW break ground.
Golf GTI TCR
First we weren't getting it, then we were, now we know when we will be getting it and the date set aside for the highly-anticipated Golf GTI TCR is marked for Q2 as well.
Polo Vivo Special Edition
A special edition Polo Vivo, the Proudly South African, will go on sale in Q3 of 2020 as a celebration of the local favourite.
Golf 8
The Golf 8 will be with us either late in 2020 or very early in 2021 and will bring with it Level 2 autonomy as mentioned above.
Tiguan Facelift
Before the financial year is done, we will see a face-lifted Tiguan introduced. This will most likely be introduced in February 2021.
Commercial
Transporter 6.1
We can look forward to the introduction of the Transporter 6.1 with improved styling, electromechanical power steering, driver assistance systems and a digital cockpit.
Amarok
It has also been confirmed that we can look forward to the introduction of the Amarok 190 kW that features a 190 kW / 580 Nm torque V6 engine that will provide 200 kW on over-boost and sprint to 100 km/h in under 8-seconds.
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