Golf/Rabbit/Caribe
The original Golf was introduced in 1974 in Europe because of
the sharp decrease in sales of the almighty rear-wheel drive VW bug. The Rabbit
was launched in America in 1975, one year after its debut in Europe as the Golf and
in mexico as the Caribe. Volkswagen could not immediately drop the Bug and its
production continued as sales fell. Japan began their sales of the Honda Civic in 1972
as one of the first front wheel drive, four cylinder, economy cars. After Giorgetto Giuiaro
designed the Golf and it was unveiled in the 1974 model year lineup it was a
blatant opposite of the bug being water cooled and front wheel drive. With the
change of times, Volkswagen had to change too and the golf has proven to be a
huge success with its one million units sold in three years, I will discuss this
further in the "Worldwide" section.
To this day there has been no answer from Volkswagen as to why their new
poster child was called the Golf everywhere except for North America. The MK1
(pronounced "mark one") Golf/Rabbit was succeeded by what would be five more
generations of this car to date because of adoration it received from its owners
starting in the mid seventies. Along with the fuel efficiency and style, the
rabbit topped the charts with its brutally sharp handling at your
disposal and this was all done with no lapse in comfort or elegance. The rabbit
showed a .7G on the skid pad which puts it up there in the category with
expensive high end sports car handling.
the sharp decrease in sales of the almighty rear-wheel drive VW bug. The Rabbit
was launched in America in 1975, one year after its debut in Europe as the Golf and
in mexico as the Caribe. Volkswagen could not immediately drop the Bug and its
production continued as sales fell. Japan began their sales of the Honda Civic in 1972
as one of the first front wheel drive, four cylinder, economy cars. After Giorgetto Giuiaro
designed the Golf and it was unveiled in the 1974 model year lineup it was a
blatant opposite of the bug being water cooled and front wheel drive. With the
change of times, Volkswagen had to change too and the golf has proven to be a
huge success with its one million units sold in three years, I will discuss this
further in the "Worldwide" section.
To this day there has been no answer from Volkswagen as to why their new
poster child was called the Golf everywhere except for North America. The MK1
(pronounced "mark one") Golf/Rabbit was succeeded by what would be five more
generations of this car to date because of adoration it received from its owners
starting in the mid seventies. Along with the fuel efficiency and style, the
rabbit topped the charts with its brutally sharp handling at your
disposal and this was all done with no lapse in comfort or elegance. The rabbit
showed a .7G on the skid pad which puts it up there in the category with
expensive high end sports car handling.