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Volkswagen is hoping to use the recognition it has built for its hot hatch GTi model to increase the popularity of its quickest diesel Golf.
The new Golf GTD will be launched this June at the same time as the new GTi, and the 170PS 2.0 diesel version will take on more of the styling cues of its turbocharged petrol version than has previously been the case. The last generation Golf that used the same diesel could have been mistaken for anything else in the range, but cosmetically this won't be the case with the new model.
A VW insider confirmed the new model will take the body styling, front fog lights and some interior detailing from the GTi, but the diesel version should be comfortably under the all-important 161g/km capital allowance tax cut-off point, making business sales a major opportunity area for the GTD.
Other developments in the Golf line-up coming this year to follow on from the new model's launch in early January include a new 105PS 1.6-litre diesel engine this summer that will take the standard Golf in all its trim levels under 120g/km with the hefty benefit-in-kind advantage that goes with it. With the last generation Golf, only the Bluemotion version was into the 13% BIK bracket, and none of the Mk6 Golf's launch engines get below 128g/km. The new engine will replace the 110PS 2.0 TDI that's predicted to be the most popular unit until it is phased out.
A new Bluemotion Golf will come late in 2009 with VW hoping to get down to below 100g/km and around 73mpg, though figures won't be confirmed until later in the year. That model will be the first of the current VW line-up to benefit from stop-start technology.
The rest of the Golf family will also be replaced in due course. Next up after the three- and five-door versions already on sale is the Golf Plus, coming in April, with a projected sub-120g/km version coming in the summer, followed by the Golf Estate at the end of this year and the Touran and new Jetta during 2010.
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