Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
This is probably old news for you guys too, but last month VW launched an estate version of the Fox, called SpaceFox.
I've been meaning to post some pictures since late march but finally, here they are:
Currently it is only available in Brazil in two versions, base and Comfortline, both powered by VW's EA-111 1.6 engine (8 valves, 103 bhp, the very same engine that's mounted in my Polo!), in "Flex-fuel" configuration - meaning it can run on ethanol or petrol or any mix of the two.
The SpaceFox was designed and developed in Brazil and is being built in VW's Cordoba plant in Argentina. Confirmed markets so far are Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, with more countries in the region to follow in the coming months.
my brother's girlfriend is brazilian and she couldn't work out why vw are doing the fox in europe, made in brazil due to the cheap and poorer quality....that's her opinion anyway, i havn't seen a fox yet
Well the Fox looks roomy for the segment because it wasn't really designed to be a "sub-B" car like the Lupo.
It was developed in Brazil to sort of replace the ageing (mkI 1980, mkII 1994) Volkswagen Gol, the VW supermini for Latin America. I say "sort of" because VW kept selling the Gol after the Fox was launched in 2003, and the Gol still easily outsells its younger brother (in fact it is the best-selling car in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico) thanks to a lower price point.
What you're getting in Europe as a cheap "sub-B" car is in fact the 3-door version of a full-blown supermini for our poorer markets. And it's supposed to be roomy because we're still like '60s and '70s France or Italy, where whole families own just one supermini or a supermini and an older car (probably a supermini too). Evidence for that is the fact that a 3-door Fox is a rare sight in Brazil, 3/4 of all Foxes sold here have five doors and they're considered "proper" cars, not cheap transportation. An Eurpean student's vehicle is a Latin American dad's car.
Now the SpaceFox completes the range and its main goal is to eventually replace the ageing Parati, or Gol Estate (the actual names depend on the country, the Gol is called "Pointer" in Mexico and Russia, and the Fox is called Lupo in Mexico because their president's last name is, well, Fox, as in Vicente Fox...).
We get Polos too (obviously, check my sig), but they're marketed here as "premium" small cars, with larger (1.6 and 2.0 litre) engines, and a notchback version that costs us as much as a Bora in its day cost a German consumer. We still get the Bora, BTW, imported from Mexico and meant as a replacement for the Santanas (now that's an old car) as taxis (only the chinese still buy Santanas as private cars).
In the end, all this is a long way to say that the Fox appears roomy because it was designed for a different role, in a different market, in a different continent, and VW saw it as an opportunity to offer a "premium" alternative to the Fiat Pandas and Renault Logans... Though all that's "premium" about it is the VW badge, which in Europe has a quality aura that over here is reserved for the Polo, Golf and Passat, the "European VWs", as opposed to popular "Brazilian" people's cars...
(oh and BTW that horrific striped upholstery is an Europe exclusive, not a Brazilian thing. You can't get that "colourful" interior here)
thanks for the info babe!
that was interesting to read
and by 'colourful interior' you mean 'British deck-chair colour' its awful! well at least it makes us feel like we are outside with our strawberries and cream!
Step 1: Brainstorm.
Idea: Sell small-ish town car (Polo). This works.
Idea: Sell even smaller town car (Lupo). This also works, mostly.
Idea: Therefore it must work double well to ditch Lupo for something halfway between the two, barely smaller than the first (Fox).
Idea: Corner the niche small-estate market by creating a variant of the third car that's got more doors and is noticably larger than the first (SpaceFox).
Step 2: ...
Step 3: Profit! (??)
I've always considered a Polo estate, mainly because a/ compact, b/ roomy, c/ looks pretty good, all told. That's ugly though.
but finally, here they are:
