After an epic 33,548km Australian torture test, Volkswagen has celebrated its 70th birthday in Australia and announced its electrified future with a unique ceremony by Sydney Harbour today.
At an event attended by representatives of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Volkswagen Financial Services, Ampol and Kumho Tyres, driver Rainer Zietlow received the Guinness World Record certificate for the biggest GPS image made by a vehicle.
Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles Director Michal Szaniecki said the “immense scope of this journey reflects the ambition shared by all of VGA’s brands for electro mobility”.
“Sand, snow and flooding rain – in few countries are such a challenging diversity of conditions encountered at the same time of year,” Mr Szaniecki said. “The ID.4 GTX combines the key aspects of the two EVs with which Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles commences its electric roll out in Australia – the ID.4 Pro and ID.5 GTX.
“The fact that this ID.4 GTX had been driven more than 50,000km even before it was brought it to Australia to do this unique, massive ‘test drive’, tells customers that Volkswagen offers the highest quality, durability, range capability and has a nationwide network to support them.”
Driving the ID.4 GTX over the past 42 days, Mr Zietlow and his co-driver and photographer Marius Biela – holders of multiple endurance benchmarks – have inscribed “70 years of VeeDub” across remote parts of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. They have then ‘framed’ this with a circumnavigation of the country.
The ‘drawing’ of the message took 23,901km of the 42 day journey that involved 132 charging points, often in outback regions where BEVs are seldom seen.
The ID.4 – a World Car of the Year – and the ID.5 GTX are both ‘on water’ en route to Australia. Pricing will be announced shortly.
A vivid pictorial account of this ultimate test drive can be seen at:
https://www.volkswagen.com.au/en/brand-experience/70-Year-Anniversary-of-Volkswagen.html
Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA) Managing Director Karsten Seifert said: “This 70th birthday event and celebration of a singular record marks the commencement of the next seven decades in this country not only for Volkswagen, but all VGA brands.”
Volkswagen Group Australia consists of Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and CUPRA.
“VGA will become the most important European supplier of BEVs in this market,” Mr Seifert said. “We will soon go from four models at present across our brands to four times that number.
“VGA’s is implementing a BEV Strategy that is multi-faceted, a plan that provides customers with a comprehensive, whole of ownership package including the installation of home charging to make the transition to electric mobility seamless.”
In addition to the ID.4 Pro and ID.5 GTX; Volkswagen’s already iconic ID.Buzz “electric Kombi” people mover and Buzz Cargo van are also on the way to Australia. This month Skoda’s Enyaq SUV Coupe went on sale and will join Audi’s Q4 and CUPRA’s Tavascan in being delivered by the year’s end.
“Australia’s relationship with electric vehicles is maturing, but this country has long standing love affair with pickup trucks – or ‘utes’ as we say here,” Mr Seifert said. “So we are also announcing another endurance effort, this time in the Amarok.”
Driving a Volkswagen Amarok Style V6 with accessories fitted by Volkswagen and sponsors ARB, Mr Zietlow will next month drive through Australia’s deserts to showcase the toughness of the twin cab utility vehicle – with more details to be announced soon.
Based as a highly acclaimed collaboration project, the uniquely Volkswagen body, interior and specifications were designed and honed over two years by a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles team based in Australia.
“VGA is unique in this showroom diversity from a growing range electric vehicles to well-loved conventional cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles,” Mr Seifert said.
“Whether the vehicle of choice is re-charged or re-fuelled, VGA meets the needs of all customers.”
Paul Pottinger
General Manager Corporate Communications
Volkswagen Group Australia
+61 434 755 158