Inside The Industry: TTAC Finds The Missing Etymology Of Passat, Golf, Scirocco, Polo

German launch catalog for the Polo

Where did the names of Volkswagen’s Passat, Golf, Scirocco, Polo come from? What is their meaning? For four decades, it was shrouded in mystery. Forty years later, a famous former Volkswagen CEO, Dr. Carl Hahn, and his illustrious former sales chief, “WP” Schmidt, help TTAC get to the bottom of an unsolved question,

Some of the worst performers in the truth department are the gossip press and the automotive media. A good deal there simply is fantasy. Knowing well that no-one will complain or check, bogus new product plans are being published. The large-scale availability of cheap 3D rendering software ( here is how it’s done) and of WordPress turns this disease into a pandemic.

Most of these lies come and go. Some stay and turn into history. A dark chapter of automotive history falsification is about the names of the new generation of cars that, in the early 1970s, rescued Volkswagen from the brink and that helped turn VW into the powerhouse it is today: Passat, Golf, Scirocco, Polo.

There is so munch nonsense written about those names, that we had to go to the very top, and ask the people who decided these names 40 years ago.

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Curbside Classic Fastback Week: 1969 Volkswagen 1600 Type 3 Fastback

Two fastbacks found in one week; now there’s something to be thankful for (not that I don’t have plenty already). The Packard Clipper Super and this Volkswagen Type 3 may not seem to share anything other than their tapering hind ends, but there is one other quality that they both have in common, and it makes the VW worthy to share the podium with it:

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  • Jkross22 Not to rub salt in the wound, but why would you put your hq in some extraordinarily expensive real estate like Manhattan Beach? I know little of Fisker the person, but this reeks of ego and the desire for appearances.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I’ve responded to several bike accidents where if the guy wasn’t wearing a helmet he would’ve been in a casket. Plus it saves your hearing.
  • Wjtinfwb Nice cars and a find if you're into Radwood type iron. But a near 40 year old anything, even something as robust as a Legend is going to have failure points that would be prohibitively expensive to fix. Electronics, A/C, leaky old gaskets, creaking suspension bushing etc., not to mention the lack of safety gear and an interior that no doubt has "seen a lot". I applaud the manual transmission, but you could likely find something 30 years newer for not much more money to hone your heel and toe skills on before graduating to a more expensive ride.
  • ScarecrowRepair Considering how over-priced Apple products are, I doubt a cheap Rivian is in the works.
  • Dick Mottram What happens when you are on slippery pavement and AEB slams on the brakes. I see it causing many accidents in the winter!