In this week's round-up of automotive gossip, we hear about the importance of performance Golfs for Volkswagen, why the Cupra is proving critics wrong, tap Kia's thoughts on the future of saloons and more.
Hot Golfs key for Volkswagen
How important are performance models to the Volkswagen Golf’s success? Well, according to the firm, the hot variants (the GTI, GTD, GTE and R) made up around 40% of sales of the Mk7 model in the UK. The GTD diesel was the most popular of those, but many buyers of the Mk8 Golf are expected to migrate from that to the GTE petrol-electric plug-in hybrid.
Cupra makes critics eat criticism
It hasn't been around for long, but Cupra’s early sales success has proved its critics wrong, according to new CEO Wayne Griffiths. “At the time, there were a lot of people around who had their doubts,” he said at the launch of the new Cupra Leon. “We’ve sold 40,000 cars globally since launching the brand, with 25,000 of those in 2019. That’s 70% up on the year before.” In two years, Cupra has become Seat’s most profitable business unit.
Google Maps route to charging success
A key reason Volvo partnered with Google to create a new infotainment operating system was to ensure its electrified cars could offer Google Maps. Olivier Loedel, Volvo’s electrification business manager, said: “It’s not about range anxiety any more, it’s charging anxiety, and Google Maps gives detailed information on charging points.”
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Google Maps route to charging success?
I can't understand why the larger cities and towns don't partner with Google Maps for their traffic light control, they could utilise the live anonomised traffic date Google maps could provide in real time to change their traffic light timings to suit traffic levels and greatly improve traffic flow.
Cupra
The criticism wasn't of the cars, it was for the need of Cupra to be a brand. And since Cupra doesn't have stand-alone dealerships, the criticism still stands.