The Volkswagen Jetta is a compact saloon built since 1979 to fill a niche slightly above the Golf hatchback, and it has been sold over seven generations under names including Atlantic, Vento, Bora, City Jetta, GLI, Clasico and Sagitar. It has been offered as a two- and four-door saloon and sometimes as an estate. By mid-2011 almost ten million Jettas had been produced and sold, and by April 2014 Volkswagen had marketed more than 14 million, making it the brand’s top-selling model.
Volkswagen Jetta at a glance
| Maker | Volkswagen |
|---|---|
| Production | since August 1979 |
| Generations | seven |
| Other names | Atlantic, Vento, Bora, City Jetta, Jetta City, GLI, Clasico, Sagitar |
| Bodies | two- and four-door saloon, sometimes a five-door estate |
| Name origin | the Atlantic jet stream, like the Passat, Bora and Scirocco |
| First generation | A1, Type 16, shown at the 1979 Frankfurt show |
| Mk1 wheelbase | 2,400 mm, as the Golf, but 380 mm longer overall |
| Mk1 boot | 377 litres |
| Mk2 boot | 470 litres; drag coefficient 0.36 |
| Sales | almost 10 million by mid-2011; over 14 million by April 2014 |
| Assembly | Wolfsburg, and Sarajevo (TAS) for the Balkans |
History of the Volkswagen Jetta
Volkswagen saw that the Golf hatchback, the Rabbit in North America, lacked appeal for buyers who preferred a traditional three-box saloon. Its stylists took the opposite approach to the AMC Gremlin and grafted a new boot onto the tail of the Golf to create a larger saloon. The Jetta was presented at the 1979 Frankfurt Auto Show and production of the first generation began in August 1979 at Wolfsburg, where the car was known in Mexico as the Volkswagen Atlantic. It came as a two-door, which replaced the ageing two-door Beetle in the United States and Canada, and as a four-door, both with angular styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign.
The first Jetta shared the Golf’s 2,400 mm wheelbase and its MacPherson strut front and twist-beam rear suspension, but was 380 mm longer overall and had a 377-litre boot. Interiors were made more upscale than the Golf’s in every market, with velour seating and carpeting from sill to sill. Engines ranged from a 1.1-litre four of 37 kW (50 hp) to a 1.8-litre of 82 kW (110 hp) and 150 N·m, carburetted or with Bosch K or KE Jetronic injection, plus a 1.6-litre diesel of 37 kW and a turbocharged version of 51 kW and 130 N·m. In most of the world the car had composite headlamps, while the United States kept rectangular sealed-beam lamps to satisfy federal rules. The first generation was also built in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, by the TAS joint venture for the Balkan market, and Volkswagen briefly considered a plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, before abandoning the idea in 1982.
The second generation was introduced in Europe in early 1984 and in North America in 1985, and it became the longest-running Jetta so far. It was larger in every direction, with 100 mm more length, 66 mm more wheelbase and 53 mm more width, and it could seat five instead of four. The suspension kept its layout but gained a separate subframe for the front control arms and better rubber mountings to isolate noise, aerodynamics improved to a drag coefficient of 0.36 and the boot grew to 470 litres, nearly the size of some full-sized American saloons. Interior room rose by 14 per cent, enough to move the car from the EPA sub-compact to the compact class. In North America it outsold the equivalent Golf by two to one.
Design and features
- Golf-based saloon: the same platform and engines as the hatchback, with a separate boot.
- Seven generations: from the 1979 A1 to the modern car, with more than 14 million sold by 2014.
- Many names: Atlantic in Mexico, Vento, Bora, Sagitar in China and Clasico in Latin America.
- More upmarket than the Golf: velour trim and better equipment from the first generation.
- Big boots: 377 litres in the Mk1 and 470 litres in the Mk2.
Volkswagen Jetta versions
- Jetta Mk1 (1979–1984): two- and four-door saloon, also sold as the Atlantic in Mexico.
- Jetta Mk2 (1984): the longest-running generation.
- Vento (1992): the European name of the third-generation car.
- Bora (1999): the European name of the fourth-generation car.
- GLI: the sporting trim used on several generations.
- Sagitar: the Chinese name of the model.
The Jetta is the saloon version of the Golf and sits below the larger Passat. More cars are in the Volkswagen collection.
Video: Der VW Jetta im Fahrbericht
Video by Motorvision Deutschland on YouTube.
Sources
- Volkswagen Jetta, English Wikipedia: name, generations, first and second generation details, sales
