A different type of Fender-bender.
This is one fender-bender motorists will likely appreciate, or so Volkswagen is betting as it gets ready to introduce a new, high-line audio system that will debut on the 2012 Jetta GLI.
The 9-speaker package will be dubbed the Fender Premium Audio System and expand upon a special promotion VW ran a few years ago, when it offered a new guitar to anyone who bought one of its 2007 models.
It’s become almost de rigeur for automakers to offer a badged high-line audio system, whether Bose, NAIM or Bang & Olufsen. But VW appears to believe it can strike a chord as it amps up a more bad boy image with new performance models like the Golf R32. (For more on the new hot hatch Click Here.)
“The best seat in the house is now behind the wheel of a Volkswagen,” said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “Our two iconic companies – one with a passion for driving, one with a passion for music – are joining forces to bring the raw emotion of live music to the driving experience.”
The partnership, which will launch in 2012, eventually will see the Fender name appear in a variety of VW products, including the entire Jetta line-up, as well as the next-generation Volkswagen Beetle, due out in 2012, about the same time the maker launches the American-made model currently codenamed the New Midsize Sedan. The use of a Fender audio system is one of the few details VW has yet released about the NMS.
The partners say the new system is the result of three years of research. It’s also part of a new partnership between Fender and Japanese electronic giant Panasonic, which is producing the branded audio system.
Panasonic claims it has developed a proprietary electronics system for Fender, and will pair the technology with dual voice coil speakers and extended-range tweeters.