Volkswagen Group China was the official automotive partner of the Beijing Olympic Games. The theme of the cooperation was “Enjoy the Olympic Journey with Volkswagen”.
This partnership was mainly about providing vehicles to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee: 4.350 Volkswagens, 650 Skodas, and 1.000 Audi-brand cars. Volkswagen Group China reportedly paid US$150 million for the pleasure of providing the vehicles, outbidding Hyundai China.
In 2008, Volkswagen was by far the best-selling car brand. In 2008, Volkswagen sold 1.024 million cars in China, which was 12.5% more than in 2007. The dominance of Volkswagen would continue until early 2024 when BYD took over the first spot.
The Volkswagen Group China included FAW-Volkswagen, Shanghai-Volkswagen, and Volkswagen Import. Audi became the official premium car supplier, and Volkswagen and Skoda supplied the rest.
The three brands provided vehicles for the Olympic Games and surrounding events, including the torch relay, the actual Olympic Games, and the Paralympic Games. Volkswagen cars were also used to support filming the official movie for the games, and for “Fuwa Love Delivery”, a government-sponsored program to spread Olympic awareness to kids in rural areas. Finally, Volkswagen organized several Olympics-themed promotional events. Volkswagen created special vehicles for each of these occasions.
The Deal
The deal was signed in June 2004 in Beijing, more than four years before the start of the Olympic Games. The parties were the Volkswagen Group China and the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee ( BOCOG). Under the terms of the deal, Volkswagen would “provide funding, vehicles, and related services for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, the Chinese Olympic Committee, … and the Chinese sports delegation in the 2008 Olympic Games.”
The main deal makers were Wang Wei, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (left), and Folker Weißgerber, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Volkswagen (right).
Volkswagen released a statement by Bernd Pischetsrieder, Chairman of the Volkswagen Group, which, considering the wording, was clearly written in China by Chinese Volkswagen employees for a Chinese audience. Bernd said:
“Volkswagen is very grateful to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee for its trust in the Volkswagen Group. Being able to become the leading role of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee in the global automotive industry Being the only partner recognized by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee is a very high honor for Volkswagen. We feel very honored and proud, and we also feel deeply responsible and challenged. Volkswagen is willing to provide as much as possible for the successful hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Help and contribute to promoting the development of the Olympic cause in China and widely promoting the Olympic spirit. We also hope to take advantage of the opportunity of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to repay the society, repay Beijing, and repay the Chinese people who have supported us for many years.”
Besides the cars, the partnership involved a whole lot of activities, all nicely aligned with the goals of the Chinese government.
The production line
Most of the cars for the Games were made locally in China, at FAW-VW and Shanghai-VW. When these cars started to roll off the line, Volkswagen organized a small ceremony at the factories. The photo shows a Volkswagen Touran at Shanghai-VW. The sign says: Make elaborate cars & Serve the Olympics.
Beijing 2008 Olympic Official Film
Naturally, there was an official ceremony. The photo shows the stage of The Opening Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Official Film in August 2007 in the Bird’s Nest stadium. This was a promo film, produced before the start of the Games. The imaginative name of the movie was ‘Beijing Olympic Games’.
Volkswagen provided support vehicles for making the movie: Volkswagen Import Touareg, Shanghai-VW Passat Lingyu, and the FAW-VW Magotan. The cars were black with white decals on the doors.
The Torch Relay
The Torch Relay is an Olympic tradition where the Olympic Flame travels from the previous organizing city to the new one, from Athens to Beijing. Normally, these relays were rather modest affairs, with a ceremony in both cities, without the flame really going anywhere.
But this was China in 2008, so the Torch Relay had to be gigantic. China organized a complex relay in which the flame traveled by road, train, and airplane in a series of events all over the world. Volkswagen was also the vehicle supplier of the international leg of the relay. In this article, I will focus on the Chinese leg, which stretched from Sanya in Hainan to the capital, Beijing.
The slogan of the torch relay was “Light the Passion Share the Dream”. The logo was a picture of two fellows holding a torch with a giant red flame.
Naturally, there was an official ceremony, held on February 28 in Beijing, with a giant stage featuring the torch relay vehicles.
The Torch Relay cars had orange-yellow decals on the sides and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay logo on the hood and the front doors. On the rear fenders were the words: “Light the Passion Share the Dream”. Volkswagen provided five models:
- Shanghai-Volkswagen: Volkswagen Passat Lingyu, Volkswagen Touran, and Skoda Octavia.
- FAW-Volkswagen: Volkswagen Sagitar, Volkswagen Magotan.
- Import: Volkswagen T5 Multivan, Volkswagen Transporter.
The Torch Relay presented some unique challenges. The average speed of the relay was only 8 km/h, that’s a guy running with the torch in hand. The cars followed the torch and couldn’t go any faster during the entire relay.
The Passat Lingyu was designated as the “Lead Car”. The Passat Lingyu Torch Relay vehicles were powered by the top-spec 2.8-liter V6 engine.
The Volkswagen Sagitar Torch Relay car.
The Volkswagen Magotan Torch Relay car.
Volkswagen Touran and Skoda Octavia Torch Relay cars.
A Sagitar followed by a Multivan.
Volkswagen Transporter command vehicle, with a mobile office unit.
Merchandise
Volkswagen sold 1:18 Torch Relay models of the Passat Lingyu and the Skoda Octavia. I have the Linyu in my collection, it is a super detailed model.
Volkswagen also sold pins, showing the Torch Relay logo and the VW logo.
There was also a windbreaker, in dark blue. At the front, it had Beijing 2008 and VW logos, and on the left sleeve was a Torch Relay logo.
The Games
I lived in Beijing at the time, and it was great fun. China was at its maximum openness and it was one continuous party in the capital, 24 hours a day, non-stop. All the bars and restaurants stayed open for the entire period of the Games, not closing once. I went to several sports events, like swimming and cycling, and I spent a lot of time at the Heineken House, setup by my favorite beer brand Heineken, which was also a sponsor. Anyway, on with the story.
Volkswagen supplied almost 6000 cars for the Olympic Games. The cars were handed over to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee on July 16, 2008, less than two months before the start of the games on October 8.
Naturally, there was an official ceremony. The photo shows the stage of the Volkswagen Olympic Official Hand Over ceremony in Beijing. The gentlemen are Yu Chunquan (right), Minister of Transportation of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, and Zhang Suixin, Executive Vice President of Volkswagen Group China. Zhang gives Yu a giant car key.
The cars:
- FAW-Volkswagen: Audi A6L, Volkswagen Sagitar, Volkswagen Magotan.
- Shanghai-Volkswagen: Volkswagen Touran, Volkswagen Passat Lingyu, Skoda Octavia.
- Import: Audi A8L, Audi Q7.
- Special import: a Volkswagen T5 Multivan to Mr. Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee. The Multivan was a mobile office, equipped with a refrigerator, a TV, folding desks, a fax, and a telephone.
- Special import: An Audi A6 Avant to Mr. Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee. The car’s trunk space had been enlarged so it could easily accommodate Craven’s wheelchair.
- Mystery car: the unknown and unacknowledged FAW-VW Olympia.
The Audi A8L, A6L, Magotan, and the Passat Lingyu were designated as VIP cars. These were black, with a red Beijing Olympics logo on the hood, white Beijing Olympics and Volkswagen logos on the front doors, and yellow-blue decals on the rear doors and rear fenders.
The rest of the fleet was silver and gray, with a red Beijing Olympics logo on the hood, a red Beijing Olympics logo on the front doors, and yellow-blue decals on the rear doors and rear fenders.
Volkswagen Touran and Skoda Octavia. Most of the cars were used to ferry athletes and staff around town, from the Olympic Village to the stadiums and back.
FAW-Volkswagen Audi A6L VIP cars.
FAW-Volkswagen Magotan, FAW-Volkswagen Audi A6L, and Volkswagen Sagitar.
SAIC-Volkswagen Passat Lingyu.
FAW-Volkswagen Magotan.
At the Olympic Games, the official cars were divided into three ‘tiers’, T1 was a vehicle for one person with a driver alone, T2 was a vehicle shared by two people, and T3 was a a multi-person shared vehicle.
Merchandise
For the Games, Volkswagen commissioned various merchandise, mostly pins and hats and the like. Sadly, VW didn’t commission any special 1:18 models, like for the Torch Relay. Not sure why. However, both VW and Audi printed an Olympics logo on the boxes of the standard dealer models.
The see-through box of a FAW-VW Audi A6L dealer model, with a Beijing Olympics sticker. The model is a standard A6L, without any Olympics markings.
A Volkswagen Beijing Olympics pen.
A pin of the Volkswagen Up concept, which had been unveiled in 2007. Volkswagen had big plans for the Up! in China, but local production never happened. From 2015 until 2017, the Up! was sold in China as an import, but sales were very slow.
Audi A6L pin.
The Art Cars
In 2007, Volkswagen China unveiled 14 Volkswagen New Beetles with arty farty Olympics-themed wraps, including a convertible. The designs of the 14 Volkswagen Beetle Olympic-painted cars were finalized after a public contest. Some of the Beetles were displayed in 2008 at the VW headquarters in Beijing, and others were displayed in the Olympics area after the games had ended.
The Art Cars at the then-new Beijing Capital Airport T3.
Merchandise
Volkswagen sold 1:18 versions of several art cars, with a special commemorative plate.
This is an official Volkswagen set, but only with five of the 14 cars.
Fuwa Love Delivery
Fuwa Love Delivery was a charity program where famous Chinese athletes would go to schools in rural areas to spread the word about the Olympic Games, hand out gifts, and teach the kids some sports. The athletes were ferried around the countryside in FAW-Volkswagen Sagitar sedans with cool Fuwa stickers on the doors.
This name of the program came from the Fúwá (福娃, Friendlies), five colorful dolls that were the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Happy faces. In the middle an athlete with a replica of the Olympic torch. On the right a gentlemen with a Volkswagen polo shirt.
The kid got a nice 1:18 model of the Art Cars.
Eco-friendly Volkswagen
One of the secondary themes of the Games was the Green Olympics, and Volkswagen therefore unveiled several ‘Eco-friendly Volkswagen’ cars. Some were imported from Germany, and others were prototypes developed by the joint ventures. The cars were white with green decals on the side and a green ‘Environment Beijing 2008’ logo on the C-pillar.
These cars had TDI diesel, TSI petrol, and EcoFuel (bi-fuel CNG/gasoline) engines. This was long before Diesel Gate. Diesel was still believed to be a relatively clean fuel.
Volkswagen had been trying for a while to get China interested in diesel-powered cars, which wasn’t easy because diesel-powered passenger cars were forbidden in most Chinese cities. But diesel fuel was allowed for commercial vehicles and taxis. The cars:
Shanghai-VW: Touran EcoFuel, Passay Fuel Cell.
FAW-VW: Magotan BlueMotion, Magotan TDI DSG, Sagitar TSI DSG.
Import: Tiguan 2.0 TDI.
Shanghai-VW Passat Fuel Cell
SAIC-VW provided 3 prototype Passat FVECs for the Olympics. The cars were jointly developed with several Shanghai-based companies and R&D institutions, which were united in the local-state-backed Shanghai Fuel Cell Vehicle Powertrain (SFCV). The Passat FCEVs had a different hood, with the logos of the Instead of the Olympics logo, they had the logos of the cooperating companies.
More on this interesting project in a later post!
Green Olympic Challenge 2008-FAW-Volkswagen Jetta Diesel Car Thousand Miles of Grassland Crossing Challenge
This was a corporate event organized by FAW-VW to promote the diesel-powered Jetta, which had been launched in China in 2002. It was mainly sold to taxi companies and Volkswagen wanted more sales to private buyers. To get attention, Volkswagen organized a grandly named ‘Green Olympic Challenge 2008-FAW-Volkswagen Jetta Diesel Car Thousand Miles of Grassland Crossing Challenge’ rally event. It started in September 2007 in Changchun, home of FAW-VW, and went on to Shenyang, Harbin, Dalian, the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, Hohot, and finally to Shijiazhuang.
The challenge was to drive 2008 kilometer on one tank of fuel. Eventually, the longest distance driven on one tank was 1952 kilometers. Well, that’s almost 2008!
Merchandise
Even this event had its own merchandise: a pin with a blue Jetta, the name of the event in Chinese, and a Fuwa.
After the Games
After the Games and subsequent Paralympics ended, the organizing committee was left with over 6000 cars. The cars were technically still owned by the Volkswagen Group China. The cars were provided to the Olympic Games for the duration of the Games. Most of the cars were auctioned off, both online and offline.
The cars had low mileage, were perfectly maintained, and insurance had been paid. Still, prices were low. For example, a nearly-new Octavia sold for 30.000 yuan less than an all-new example, and a Touran sold for 60.000 yuan less!
Other Olympic cars were displayed in dealers across China, like this Skoda Octavia Torch Relay vehicle.
Olympic Specials
Before and during the Games, the Volkswagen Group launched several Olympics-themed special editions on the Chinese car market. This article is long enough as it is already, so I will discuss those vehicles in a later post.
Thank you for reading. I will update this article when more information becomes available.