The eyes of the world will soon fall on Beijing, China, with the festivities of the 2008 Olympic Games due to begin in earnest in just 24hrs. Of course with such a global platform comes opportunity - one that car manufacturers have been keen to capitalise on.

It comes as no surprise then to discover that Volkswagen will be taking centre stage as one of the sponsors for the Olympic Games. However, what’s especially encouraging is that as Beijing hurries to rid itself of pollution before the events kick-off, Volkswagen is making its green cars the centrepiece of its involvement.

As the official sponsor for the event, Volkswagen will supply 5,000 green cars each carrying a special design to symbolise the Games. The idea is that the vehicles represent Olympic traditions with the concepts of ‘wind’, ‘mobility’ and ‘street’ all applied.

The vehicles that will be featured by Volkswagen are the Magotan 2.0 TDI (6.2l/100) and Magotan BlueMotion (5.1l/100), the Sagitar 1.4 TSI (6.4l/100), the Touran EcoFuel (biofuel CNG/gasoline) and the Tiguan 2.0 TDI (6.9l/100).

If you’re wondering where the VW names are that you may be familiar with, fear not. The Magotan is actually a locally produced version of the Passatt and the Sagitar is another name for the Jetta.

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