While attending the Frankfurt auto show, we’ve learned that Volkswagen plans to debut the production-ready 2013 Jetta hybrid at the Detroit show in January ahead of its on-sale date later in the year. It will use a TSI engine as previously announced, but we’ve also confirmed that it will displace 1.4 liters and that it will only be turbocharged, and not turbo- and supercharged as the 1.4 is in non-hybrid applications, in the interest of keeping costs down. The battery pack will be of the lithium-ion variety, and the car will be positioned as a sporty, performance hybrid, although we were told to expect big-time fuel-economy numbers, too. We’ll learn more about VW’s second hybrid—after the gas/electric Touareg—in the run-up to Detroit.
In related news, capacity constraints at the Puebla, Mexico, plant that builds the Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen, Golf, and Beetle mean that there’s just no room to fit in a Jetta coupe, so it’s not happening. The Puebla plant also will have to take on production of the Beetle convertible, which will be revealed at the New York auto show in April. That’s too bad, as we were fans of the handsome NCC concept shown in Detroit in 2010, which previewed the car.
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