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Volkswagen: Golf nameplate replaces Rabbit with debut of all-new sixth generation Golf in Fall, 2009

The all-new sixth generation Golf debuted at the Geneva Auto Show last fall and went on sale in Europe in October.

All body elements were revised for the new Golf though the compact sedan retains its iconic profile while, claims Volkswagen, gaining “a sportier and more distinctive image than any generation of the model series.”

 

“The roof section now rests—similar to the new (European market only) Sciroco—on a prominently contoured shoulder section. Responsible for this is a dominant curved line that—like a muscle trained down to the last fiber—exgtens from the headlights back to the taillights. This side profile line—which Volkswagen Design call the ‘character line’—also gives the Golf a fuller, lower stance on the road from a lateral perspective.”

 

Volkswagen also claims the Golf, borrowing design elements from the Volkswagen CC—leaves “the impression that one is actually sitting in a car of the next higher segment.”

 

New elements for the sixth generation include acoustic glass windshield, seatbelt detection that tells the driver which rear seat passenger hasn’t fastened the seatbelt and DSG dual-clutch transmissions replacing the conventional automatic, either six-speed or seven-speed “depending on engine torque” and no doubt market. Specific details have not been announced regarding which models will be offered in North America.

 

“Rabbit” had replaced Golf in the U.S. to remind buyers of the name used for the first generation when it was introduced here in for the 1975, destined to replace the equally iconic VW Beetle. Volkswagen adopted the Golf name—used in most of the rest of the world in 1985, then changing back to Rabbit in mid-2006 with a bunny logo on the exterior of the car. Apparently VW marketers thought the nostalgic name would encourage sales. Despite advertisements suggesting the Rabbit would, well, reproduce like rabbits, the name apparently failed to catch on. "It did OK for us, but it didn't do what we hoped it would do," according to Volkswagen spokesman Steve Keyes. Hence the return to the more Golf moniker used in the rest of the world..

 

Indeed, the Rabbit died...and begat a Golf.