Have Australia’s Golf prospects been sunk?

Reports have emerged suggesting that the upcoming Volkswagen Golf MkVI will NOT be sold in Australia. You can read the original report, in German, HERE, or alternatively see autoblog and germancarblog for reports in English. To highlight the gravity of these suggestions, it has been said that the United States and Brazil will also miss out on the MkVI Golf.

AUSmotive.com contacted Volkswagen Australia earlier today, but at this stage no comment has been made to confirm or deny the Australian future of the MkVI. However, the suggestion of the next generation Golf not being sold in Australia is one that warrants close attention. The reports suggest it is the profitability of the MkVI that concerns Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn. On a global scale it would be hard to argue that Australia is a vital market for Volkswagen. But in a local context the current MkV Golf is sinking plenty of long range putts for Volkswagen Australia.

In 2007 the Golf was the highest selling car in Australia for a German manufacturer. VFACTS figures show 10,982 Golfs were sold in 2007. Well above the next best—the BMW 3 Series with 8716. In fact, even if you add 1 Series sales to the 3, the combined sales tally for the two BMW models—10,497—they still fail to overtake the Golf.

Peugeot’s entire model range couldn’t match Golf sales either, with a total of 8807 sales last year. A similar tale is told for stablemate Audi, with 7225 sales across the range in 2007. Subaru’s Impreza was another unable to match it with the Golf last year, although they were about par, with 10,853 Impreza sales.

Figures to the end of May indicate sales of the Golf are still going well, increasing by over 25% on 2007—5732 sales to date, against 4576 at the same stage last year. Even with the launch of the all new Impreza, late last year, sales are still falling short of the Golf in 2008 with 5228 sales to the end of May.

On sales figures alone the Golf is desperately important to the future of Volkswagen in Australia. The widely acclaimed Golf GTI alone must bring in countless customers to Volkswagen showrooms. And if these enquiries do translate into sales, you can bet Volkswagen’s bottom dollar these new customers won’t all be driving away in a Golf.

If the all new MkVI platform does not find its way to Australian shores you would have to start asking questions as to Volkswagen’s long term future here. On the strength of Australian sales figures of both the Golf and the entire Volkswagen range it would be difficult to see Volkswagen putting Australia into the too hard basket. To do so would be to gift their competitors close to 30,000 annual sales. AUSmotive.com believes these internet reports will ultimately prove to be false, but at this point we are unable to provide any conclusive evidence to back up that claim. Keep reading for more news as it comes to hand.