2011 Volkswagen R

Get ready for four new Golf concepts from Volkswagen, all based on the recently hotted-up Golf R. With these four Golfs, Volkswagen R GmbH hopes to explore the themes of "especially high-end" and "especially sporty".

The more luxurious Golfs feature unique paint (Oryx White and Carbon Steel Grey), 19-inch Talladegas, aluminum trim, and Nappa leather interiors crafted by Volkswagen R Exclusive. The white one wears St. Tropez over black leather, while the dark gray one dons Almandine Red over black.

The two sporty Golfs come in Space Grey and Aplomb Blue and come with carbon fiber trim and mirror caps, racing buckets, and mo' Nappa. Of the sporty interpretations, the light gray one gets Pure Grey over Light Anthracite leather with orange piping, piano black seat backs, polished Talldega wheels, and orange brake calipers.

The blue one rolls on Brilliant Silver 19-inch Glendales; its buckets are wrapped in blue and black leather and have carbon fiber shells, while the steering wheel gets a small helping of carbon leather.

It's good to see Volkswagen's R GmbH doing its part to keep the customer individualization train running. Next stop: Jetta?

Vw Golf VI is Europe’s best selling car

Over the past 30 years, the Volkswagen Golf has been the success of cars in Europe. Now After gaining the honor of the World Car of the Year for 2009, the German made VW Golf is on a roll this year and comes back and turn into the best selling vehicle in Europe, ahead of the Peugeot 207 and Ford Fiesta.

The ranking stand as follows; VW Golf, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 207, Fiat Punto, Opel Corsa, Ford Focus, VW Polo, Fiat Panda, Renault Clio and VW Passat. As for brands, Volkswagen is the winner here too. It is followed by Ford, Renault, Opel and Fiat. The last five in the brand battle are Peugeot, Citroen, Audi, Mercedes and Toyota. For undisclosed reasons, BMW did not make the top ten.

Although the Golf has recorded an increase in sales, its position is under threat by Ford Fiesta, which unveiled an increase in sales of 27 percent in April and 20 percent year-to-date. The data, compiled by JATO Dynamics, showed that Golf sold 44,612 units in April (down 7.2 percent year on year), while year-to-date sales show 169,089 units have been sold, down 4 percent from the same period of 2008.

"National government scrappage schemes are really starting to have an impact, both in the sales volumes in different markets and in the type of cars being sold. The bigger picture shows the size of the drop in new car sales across Europe," David Di Girolamo, JATO Consult head told the source.

Because of these incentives, the Ford Fiesta is gaining up on the Golf, selling especially well in the biggest european markets: Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain.

The other two cars in the top ten managed to score increases: the Fiat Panda, up 17 percent and another model from the German manufacturer, the Volkswagen Polo, even if in its case the increase was only 1 percent.