The Volkswagen Jetta is a small family car, produced by German automaker Volkswagen Group for the Volkswagen Passenger Cars marque since 1979. Positioned to fill a saloon/sedan niche above the firm's Golf hatchback offering, it has been marketed over five generations variously as the Atlantic, Bora, City Jetta, Jetta City, Fox, GLI, Jetta, Sagitar, and Vento. The Jetta was originally adapted by adding a conventional trunk to the Golf hatchback, and some distinctive styling (usually the front end, and sometimes slight interior changes). It has been offered in two- and four-door saloon (sedan), and five-door estate (station wagon) versions - all as five-seaters. As of 2005, over 6.6 million cars have been sold worldwide, over one-third in the United States alone. Since the
original version in 1980, the car has grown in size and power with each successive generation.The Jetta nameplate is a reference to the Atlantic 'jet stream', reflecting the period in Volkswagen's history when it named its vehicles after prominent winds. Thalso included the Volkswagen Passat (after the German word for trade wind), Volkswagen Bora (after bora), and Volkswagen Scirocco (after sirocco)Although the Golf had reached considerable success, in the North American markets, Volkswagen observed that the hatchback body style lacked some of the appeal to those who preferred the traditional three-box configuration. The styling of the 1970 AMC Gremlin was controversial for truncating the Hornet sedan, but Volkswagen stylists reversed the process by essentially grafting a new trunk onto the tail of the Golf to produce a larger Jetta saloon
The Jetta became the best-selling European car in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The car is also popular in Europe, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Turkey.The Jetta was introduced to the world at the 1979 Frankfurt Auto Show.[11] Production of the first generation began in August 1979 at the Wolfsburg plant. In Mexico, the Mark 1 was known as the "Volkswagen Atlantic".
The car was available as a two-door saloon/sedan (replacing the aging rear-engined, rear-wheel drive Volkswagen Beetle 2-door sedan in the United States and Canada) and four-door saloon/sedan body styles, both of which shared a traditional three-box design. Like the Volkswagen Golf Mk1, its angular styling was
penned at ItalDesign, by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Styling differences could be found depending on the market. In most of the world, the car was available with composite headlights, while in the USA, it was only available with rectangular sealed beam lamps due to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 . The suspension setup was identical to the Golf and consisted of a MacPherson strut setup in front and a twist-beam rear suspension in the rear. It shared its 2.4 metre (94.5 in) wheelbase with its hatchback counterpart, although overall length was up by 380 millimetres (15 in). The capacity of the luggage compartment was 377 litres , making the Jetta reasonably practical.To distinguish the car from the Golf, interiors were made more upscale in all markets. This included velour seating and color coordinated sill to sill carpeting.
Engine choices varied considerably depending on the local market. Most were based on 827 engines of the era. Choices in petrol engines ranged from a 1.1 litre four-cylinder engine producing 37 kilowatts , to a 1.8 litre I4 which made 82 kilowatts and 150 newton metres of torque. Some cars were equipped with carburetors, while others were fuel injected using K or KE Jetronic supplied by Robert Bosch GmbH. Diesel engine choices included a 1.6 litre making 37 kilowatts and a turbocharged version of the same engine which produced 51 kilowatts and 130 newton metres of torque.
In 1984 Volkswagen offered the Jetta GLI in the US, adding many of the drivetrain features and improvements of the 1983-1984 US GTI, including the fuel-injected 90 hp engine, close-ratio 5-speed manual transmission, sport suspension, front and rear anti-sway bars, and ventilated front disc brakes. Externally, the Jetta GLI was distinguished by wide body-side moldings, a black airfoil on the driver's-side windshield wiper, black plastic trim panel between the rear taillights and GLI badging.