All new Volkswagen Jetta redefines compact sedan design

The 2019 Volkswagen Jetta, revealed last month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, marks an important step in the history of Volkswagen's best-selling model. The seventh generation car moves to the award-winning MQB platform, which allowed the design team to redefine the Jetta with more dynamic proportions, a more modern design, and improved interior space compared to the previous generation.

"The Jetta is such an iconic product," says Klaus Bischoff, Head of Volkswagen Design. "We wanted to come up with something totally new. It was essential to give this product more prestige, more sportiness, a totally new proportion."

Working with the flexible MQB platform allowed the designers to reshape the body, creating a longer wheelbase, wider track, and bigger wheels.

While the larger proportions allow more interior space, a shorter front overhang and fast-sloping rear roofline translate into a coupe-like profile. Dynamic lines and taut surfaces combine with the new silhouette to give Jetta a look that's at once elegant, yet athletic.

The front end design, with its emphasis of horizontal lines, at once identifies the new Jetta as a Volkswagen. Specific to the model is the distinctive unit formed by the radiator grille and the standard LED head lights. The trapezoidal grille is composed of four chrome bars, two of which flow into the headlight housings where the LEDs pick up the lines and connect them for a wrap-around effect.

The coupe-like impression of the Jetta is reinforced by an offset roofline known as a 'phase' - a narrow strip that runs parallel to the actual roofline and into the C-pillar - which visually reduces the car's height. Beneath the shoulder, on the level of the door handles, there is a precisely carved character line that runs as an undercut. Its shadow surface tapers toward the rear, slightly arrow-shaped. The wheelarches and side sills also form a powerful unit with their muscular design. The side sills here are marked by an integrated light line, which continues into the rear body.

Inside, Jetta's cockpit architecture is new, with the instruments and infotainment system arranged along a driver-oriented visual and control axis. Trapezoidal design elements from the exterior are repeated in the cabin for a touch of sportiness, while premium materials bring a decidedly upscale feel.