mk2 Posted February 2, 2019 Report Share Posted February 2, 2019 Had a chat with someone the other day who says he used to work with VW Belgium in one of the production facilities. But not when the Lupo was rolling off the lines. So we got talking about Lupo related things. Apparently the UK/Ireland and Jap market cars were all made in smallish batches for only a few months at a time. Many more LHD cars were made compared to our RHD versions. He thinks that there were only 6 runs for the RHD market, the last being 2004 (one a year?!), which I find very hard to believe, as I've seen date stamps all over the place. But I can confirm that my 2003 and my 2001 SDIs must have been the same batch as the date codes are almost the same on most components. But it could just be that once built, they sat on a remote airfield ready to be shipped out to the next dealer. Poor stock management means you could potentially have received a car that was built maybe two years earlier. Anyone have any further insight? I'm sure Gtis are different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 2, 2019 Report Share Posted February 2, 2019 GTi badge,Wolfsburg assembled except for the dirty later ones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davy26 Posted February 2, 2019 Report Share Posted February 2, 2019 My Brussels-built RHD Gti's VIN includes Model Year = 2005. (Car built for Japan market). Your comment about time lapse between build/first registration was quite generally applicable in earlier times when the Industry mostly used a push manufacturing model. I worked for three manufacturers over the 70s/80s/90s where we sometimes had cars sitting for a couple of years in Northern France, waiting to be called over. In the early/mid 70s the fuel crises extended this period out to three years and more! And that was the era when galvanised bodies were only slowly coming on-stream, so no wonder we had the odd corrosion 'challenge!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lupo1.0se Posted February 2, 2019 Report Share Posted February 2, 2019 My GTI is a 05 for sure. I can even date mine. When i first got the car I found a sticker on the slam panel. It said alignment issue Feb 05. So mine went off the production line that month to be corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lupogtiboy Posted February 4, 2019 Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 My 2003 GTI was built 24-1-2003 and registered 3-3-2003. ETKA tells me the build date, so if anyone does want to know the actual build date of their GTI, PM me your chassis number and I can check it for you (I feel I may regret this decision!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted February 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 I think all GTIs were built in Germany, with the other variants in Belgium? And Seat had their own Arosa thing going. No Arosa GTI I believe. Apparently Arosas rolled off the Lupo production line before the first ever Lupos were assembled- in Wolfsburg. I wonder how different build quality is depending on where they were made.... All the engines were from Czech republic I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lupogtiboy Posted February 4, 2019 Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 Late GTI's were built in Belgium as indicated by the 'B' in their chassis number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lupo1.0se Posted February 4, 2019 Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 5 hours ago, lupogtiboy said: Late GTI's were built in Belgium as indicated by the 'B' in their chassis number Correct. I will send you mine at some point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LR5V Posted February 4, 2019 Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 Inside rear seat frames is a good place for the old style price sticker - this will go over millennial's heads - with the date on or moulded into parts. Seem to recall my passenger door panel had a date like that, think it was 2005 but it is Gti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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