Volkswagen Canada announced yesterday that the prestigious Canadian television show, Motoring 2007 has awarded the Volkswagen Rabbit the title of the best “Family car (Under $30,000)”. This award is just one of the many awards given to the 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit from various Canadian groups, publications, and media outlets.

“We are thrilled and honored by the success that the new Rabbit has encountered from the Canadian consumers and media alike,” said John White, Executive Vice-President of Volkswagen Canada.

Volkswagen Rabbit had constant media attention ever since its June 2006 launched. It is available in either three or five-door body styles and is powered by a 2.5 liter 5 cylinder that develops 150 hp and 170 lb/ft of torque. It can be mated with a standard five-speed manual or an optional six-speed automatic with Tiptronic. Pricing starting at $19,990 for the three-door model.

Produced by Bradford Productions ltd, Motoring 2007 has been part of the Canadian television landscape for 20 years now, hosted and produced by Brad Diamond.

Volkswagen Canada, Inc. is founded in 1952, and has a headquarters in Ajax, Ontario. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG of Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Other Volkswagen models available in Canada include the City Golf, City Jetta, Rabbit, GTI, New Beetle, Jetta, Passat, Eos and Touareg.

Volkswagen and Audi have selected Vincentric as their lifecycle cost provider. In a license agreement, it stated that both Volkswagen of America and Audi of America Corporate Sales departments will have access to the Vincentric data for use in areas such as client presentations, RFP responses, and industry advertising.

Lifecycle Costs or Cost of Ownership show the cost to own and operate a vehicle over time, and include depreciation, state fees & taxes, fuel costs, insurance, financing costs, maintenance, repairs, and opportunity cost. Gaining access to Vicentric data will mean that the two automotive companies will be able to show clients how their products can cost less to own and operate than competitive vehicles.

Vincentric announced yesterday about the agreement. They will provide Volkswagen of America access to Vinbase Online for Fleets, which is the Vincentric database of lifecycle cost information for over 2,000 vehicle configurations per model year. Vincentric’s Vinbase Online for Fleets is updated monthly with the latest vehicle pricing, fleet incentives, residual values, and fuel prices to measure current lifecycle costs.

According to Craig Cheatle, Corporate Sales Manager for Audi of America, said that they are thrilled how they can independently compiled Vincentric data to support the strong lifecycle cost results of the Audi vehicles. “We especially like the ability to customize the variables such as cap cost, fuel prices, and finance rates so the measurement matches the driving patterns of our customers. This lets them see how they can provide their drivers with luxury Audi vehicles that easily fit their budget,” said Cheatle.

Volkswagen is likewise glad with the agreement mentioning that it is a great solution for the company, according to Kristopher Arthur, Corporate Sales Manager for Volkswagen of America. “Our customers much prefer seeing lifecycle cost comparisons that haven’t been compiled by our internal staff, and with the strong Volkswagen results, this works well for us.”

Vincentric provides data and insight to the automotive industry by identifying and applying the many aspects of automotive value. They use their comprehensive, proprietary cost-of-ownership database, Vinbase, to measure and analyze the overall cost of owning and operating vehicles and its impact on the value provided to buyers. Vincentric also provide data to Yahoo! Autos, Cars.com, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Business Fleet Magazine and Fleet-Central.com as a means of providing automotive insight to their clientele. Vincentric, LLC, is a privately held automotive data compilation and analysis firm. Their headquarters is in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.