Next Generation VW Gol Is Caught With Little Disguise

Volkswagen Gol has been the bestselling car in Brazil for more than 20 years. Exported and built in other emerging countries, such as Russia, China and Mexico, where it has reached number one in sale charts in 2006, the car is also known as Pointer. No wonder it’s next generation, the third one (although Volkswagen calls it the fifth), is considered to be one of the most important launches for this year in South America. Many magazines, such as AutoEsporte, have already anticipated the appearance of the car based on insiders' information, but Quatro Rodas has been the first one to spot it in road tests, as you can see in the pictures in this article.

Besides these images, Quatro Rodas has also worked on some renderings for its June issue that show the front end and the rear of the car. VW Tiguan is said to have inspired the new compact hatchback, significantly enhanced when compared to the previous model. While the new car uses the PQ24 platform, also shared by VW Fox and VW Polo, the new Gol will feature a transversely mounted engine for the first time in its history. All the previous versions had longitudinally mounted engines, a very unusual solution for small cars. This characteristic made Gol be at the same time one of garage owners’ favourite cars, because it was easy to fix, and reputed to be too old compared to the competition.

The sedan version of the car, called Voyage in Brazil and exported to the USA as Fox from 1987 to 1993, will get back in line with the new car. Though compact sedans are not very popular in Europe or in the USA, they account for a large amount of sales in emerging countries due to their more affordable prices. This helps explain the launch of the sedan version of the Peugeot 206 in Brazil, but not the fact it will be called 207 Brasil Passion in that country…