Six thousand cars. That's the number of vehicles Volkswagen have committed to the Beijing Olympics. Still rubbing your eyes in disbelief?
Well, you must consider the size of the Olympics, the number of athletes, officials, support staff and the countless other dignitaries and VIPs who will grace the Games, apart from the hundreds of thousands of audience from all across the world.
And who better than Volkswagen to partner the Beijing Olympics, given the Volkswagen group's long-standing relationship with Asia's largest auto market?
For Volkswagen it's an occasion to re-establish itself in a market where it led the proceedings for decades, until a few years ago when General Motors overtook it for number one status.
The process began in 2004 when the BOCOG or Beijing Organising Committee for the Games awarded Volkswagen to be its first partner and the official transport partner for the Games. Volkswagen have since then been publicising its partnership in several fora, including the Beijing Auto Show and other sports events in China.
And to help them do that will be 4,350 Volkswagens, 650 Skodas and 1,000 Audis that constitute the fleet. But prior to this mammoth exercise, Volkswagen had capitalised over 1,000 VW group cars to help carry the torch through the entire country. That meant a staggering 40,000 kilometres in 97 days through 113 cities, including Mount Everest.
Right, so those are the numbers, but what are the cars that Volkswagen will bring along for the celebrations? The Passat and Jetta sedans that you are already aware of have been accounted for. Then there's the Volkswagen Touareg SUV and its baby sibling