Sketches show off new, not-for-SA VW Jetta

Published Dec 13, 2017

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Volkswagen has released four design sketches that show us almost exactly what the all-new, seventh-generation Jetta will look like.

The new sedan is set to make its debut at the Detroit Motor Show in January, but sadly for local Jetta fans, the newcomer won’t be offered in our market. VWSA has told us that its parent company has opted not to develop a right-hand-drive version of the 2018 Jetta due to low demand in the few markets that drive on the left. 

The current Jetta will however live on through 2018, VWSA added, and ultimately for as long as stock remains available.

In the future VWSA might look to something like the new

, which is Polo-based but bigger and more sophisticated than the current Polo sedan, to partially fill the Jetta’s shoes, but such plans would hinge on whether a right-hand-drive variant is greenlighted for the Indian market.

As with the latest Golf, the seventh-generation Jetta will move onto VW’s MQB modular platform that underpins most front-driven Volksies these days, and which will also help shed some weight despite an anticipated growth in overall dimensions.

Unlike many previous-generation Jettas, the new one looks nothing like its Golf sibling, with the styling having taken on a decidedly American flavour to widen its appeal in its principal market.

The latest sketches also show us the new Jetta’s interior for the first time, and here we see a large touch-screen integrated in the upper section of the dashboard, much like on the latest Polo that was revealed earlier this year.

Nothing has been said yet about the engine line-up, but it is likely to offer the group’s latest 1.5-litre TSI turbopetrol, featuring cylinder deactivation and producing 110kW, while upper models are likely to be offered with a 2-litre TSI option.

IOL Motoring

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