New York Auto Show: VW forbidden fruit on the floor

Volkswagen Touareg 2 at the New York International Auto Show

On Thursday afternoon, a group of us ventured out onto the floor to check out this alleged New York Auto Show we'd heard was going on all around us. Those of you familiar with the Jacob Javits Center know that the lower level is reserved for trucks, with a sprinkling of other automakers thrown in (Subaru, Kia, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, and VW). After checking out Suzuki's concept-ized SX4 sedans, we headed back toward the entrance so we could hoof it upstairs to the main show floor.

As we passed through the Nissan trucks section, I noticed a small blue covered hatchback parked against the wall. A big VW logo on the front and www.volkswagen.de labels on the side clearly stated who it belonged to. Neff and Roth, oblivious, walked right by. I stopped and yelled at them, "Hey, I think this is a Polo."

They walked back while I pulled up the front of the cover to confirm, and sure enough, it was a Polo BlueMotion. John then puts the puzzle pieces together, saying, "Oh, this makes sense. It was a nominee for the World Green Car of the Year award. Volkswagen had to have one on hand in case it won."

It didn't win. That honor went to the Bluetec-equipped Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Still, VeeDub needed to stash the car somewhere, and that somewhere wound up being this innocuous spot in the basement. Too bad. The Polo's a cool little hatch, and the BlueMotion version is good for around 60 MPG, too. That combo makes for a car that'd get its fair share of attention from potential buyers at the real VW stand, which was around 50 feet away from this impromptu parking place. Unfortunately, those pesky US regulatory hurdles rain on that parade, and it's just not to be. Oh well. At least we got to take a peek at it.

Source: [url=http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/07/new-york-auto-show-vw-forbidden-fruit-on-the-floor/]Autoblog[/url]