VW Puts Golf on a Diet

Volkswagen AG says using stronger steel enabled it to trim 220 lbs (100 kg) from the weight of its next-generation Golf small sedan and help boost the car's fuel efficiency 23%. The car debuts next month.

The Golf is the latest small car at VW to benefit from the cost- and weight-cutting advantages of the company's MQB (modular transverse matrix) platform. The company says the architecture will eventually be used by 40 models representing about 3.5 million units of annual output worldwide.

Earlier this year VW debuted the first car to use the MQB platform, the Audi A3 small sedan. That model is 176 lbs (80 kg) lighter than the previous model.

VW reiterates that it expects the MQB system to reduce production time 30% and the costs of production and tooling by 20% each. The company said earlier this year that the new modular platform will enable it to reduce engine and transmission combinations in its small cars by 90%.

VW has estimated that shifting to the new chassis could permit a single plant to make the company's Beetle, CC, Golf, Jetta, Polo, Tiguan, Touran, Sharan and Passat cars, MPVs and crossovers on the same assembly line.