What's the news?
This is a new one on us: here we have a manufacturer teasing nothing more than the midlife facelift of a car. The company in question is Volkswagen and the car being prepared for 'major updates' is the phenomenally successful MkVII Golf, launched in 2012.
However, rather than actually tell us what we can expect from this update, beyond mildly tweaked exterior and interior looks, additional technology and probably some fettled drivetrains, Volkswagen has instead decided to bombard us with some facts for the Golf.
So here goes:
- By the end of 2015, 32,590,025 Golfs had been sold globally since 1974. That means that during 42 years, someone, somewhere in the world, has bought a new Golf every 40 seconds. It's thus the most successful European car ever built.
- In 2002, when 21,517,415 Golfs had been shifted, it overtook Volkswagen's own Beetle as the best-selling car in history.
- The Golf broke through the 10 million barrier in 1988.
- In 2003, a MkI Golf went through the one million kilometres mark for the first time. More 'millionaire' Golfs have followed.
- At €188,938, the most expensive Golf ever was a MkV derivative auctioned in 2005. Its first owner was Pope Benedict XVI.
- In contrast, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's first Golf - a MkII - didn't fetch quite as much when it was sold in 2012... for €10,156.
- If you divide the number of Golfs built by the days it has been on sale, you get 2,120 cars produced and sold in every 24-hour period.
- It took the Golf just 730 days for the millionth unit to be delivered.
- The most powerful Golf ever was the 2007 Wörthersee show car, the GTI W12-650. As its name suggests, it had a W12 engine shoehorned into its nose which delivered 650hp. Nicely.
- The Golf is manufactured in five factories (in Brazil, China, Germany and Mexico) and exported to 155 countries.
- Volkswagen says the Golf is the only car in the world with five different forms of engine options: electric, hybrid, petrol, diesel and gas-powered.