The 2017 VW Jetta is a critical car for the brand and will expand beyond the current body styles. Believe it or not, the total global annual production volume of the Jetta and spin-off models is a whopping 1.7million units, compared to 850,000-unit capacity for the Golf. While these images show the NMC, a mini-CC based on the Jetta, what’s clear is that the Jetta will offer more body styles for its next generation.
So the Jetta matters. What’s new about it?
The current Jetta has been on sale in Europe since 2010, with a facelift revealed at the 2014 New York motor show. That will tide the Jetta over – it sells only a few thousand a year here in the UK – for the next-generation. A Jetta saloon, estate and Alltrack models have been locked-in, but a source from VW HQ in Wolfsburg, Germany, has told CAR: ‘We are still flipping the coin on a fourth Jetta variant.’
What could that variant be?
One obvious possibility could be a smaller version of the New Midsize Coupe (NMC) that VW showed off at the 2014 Beijing motor show (pictured). Yet insiders say that the NMC-style Jetta has been ruled out, as it’s a two-plus-two instead of a five-seater. What’s more likely is a two-door version: that’s right, a VW Jetta Coupe. Picture a cut-price, less outlandish Scirocco, which itself will go more outlandish for 2018 onwards.
>> Read all about the 2017 VW Scirocco here
A Jetta Coupe?
The North American market loves its two-doors – look at Honda, who has sold coupe versions of its Civic and Accord models Stateside – so a two-door, sleek profiled Jetta could be the key.
Part of the plan includes making the Jetta larger than the current car, with more interior space eked out by a lengthening of the current model’s 2.61m wheelbase. That’ll allow back seats with potentially genuine legroom in the two-door, and ample space in the saloon and estate.
What about engines?
Built on the MQB platform – which is highly flexible and hybrid, EV and even natural gas capable – the next Jetta will benefit from VW’s small-capacity, highly frugal turbocharged petrol powerplants. Hybridisation will be big on the agenda, given ever tightening emissions laws and the VW Group’s push towards plug-in hybrids – as seen in the VW Golf GTE and Audi A3 E-tron. Expect lightweight tech to help lower the emissions and thirst for all models, even if the Jetta grows in overall size.
A decision hasn’t been made on whether the Chattanooga plant or Puebla, Mexico, factory will be given the green light to build the tech-laden two-door, saloon and estate. Chatanooga currently supplies Jettas for global consumption, including VW’s German homeland.
>> Would you buy a Jetta Coupe, or is VW heading down the wrong path? Let is know in the comments section below.