Techno Classica Essen March 26 - 30 2008.

VIP, Preview day March 26.

20th TECHNO-CLASSICA ESSEN from 26 to 30 March 2008:
The Classic Fair of the Superlatives

Volkswagen

Automotive sportsmanship characterises the exhibition stand of the Volkswagen brand: on the occasion of the launch of the new sports coupé in the summer of this year, its predecessors take centre stage of the brand presentation in exhibition hall 7.

The name Scirocco originally refers to a hot wind from southern to south-east directions, coming from the Sahara towards the Mediterranean Sea. More than just hot air was offered by Volkswagen to its customers with the Scirocco, manufactured by Karmann in Osnabrück from 1974. Together with the VW Golf (Rabbit), which also was completely new at that time, the Scirocco brought a fresh breeze into the VW model programme.

VW opened up for new philosophies in the early nineteen seventies and ultimately gave up the "monoculture" of air-cooled engines - the Beetle soon played only a minor part. Based on the new Golf, whose production started in March of 1974, Giorgio Giugiaro designed a neat and sportive car body with a fastback. VW presented its sportive car already a few weeks prior to the designated successor of the Beetle.

The first generation of Scirocco was manufactured from 1974 to February 1981 with a number of 504,153 vehicles. Numerous combinations of equipment and engines were available, the engine performance was ranging from a 1.1 litre four-cylinder version with 50 HP to 110 HP in the Scirocco GTI. In today's street scene - and also in the classic scene - it has become a rare species: According to the German Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles (KBA) in Flensburg, only 1,611 exemplars were registered for street traffic in Germany on 1 January 2007.

At the same time the KBA had listed about ten times as many Scirocco models of the second generation - that is 16,645 vehicles. In different equipment and engine variants, more than 291,000 units were produced between 1981 and 1992. As opposed to the design of the first Scirocco generation, the softer appearance of the successor was created at the Midland Canal. Also the Scirocco II was produced by Karmann. It shows to be somewhat stronger: different engine variants were available, from an 1.3 litre four-cylinder engine to a 16V 2.8 litre four-cylinder unit with 139 HP.

Five different Scirocco variants will be shown at the Volkswagen exhibition stand during the TECHNO-CLASSICA: two vehicles from each generation, and in addition one late of the almost 20 special edition models of the 2nd generation - which one was not available to us when this publication went to press.

Due to the selection of the Scirocco as the principal performer of the Volkswagen presentation, the brand is demonstrating which significance is placed to achievable sportiness and attractive styling. The sportiness of the Scirocco is in a unique combination of driving fun and suitability for daily use - typically Volkswagen.