VW Scirocco Song Contest Enters Final Round

Online voting closes at midday on Saturday

Wolfsburg, 21 May 2008 -- The tension is rising: all Internet users only have until midday this Saturday to decide who takes part in the final of the Scirocco Song Contest. At the moment Hana Slavickova, Giacomo Miliziano and Cesare Piseddu from the Wolfsburg plant are top of the contest charts. However, with Hermann Clemens from Emden, Jens Walkenhorst from Kassel and Mark Brennecke from Salzgitter also in the top ten, there are some powerful voices from three other plants as well. Brunswick and Hanover are still in the running, too, with their candidates Andre Huk and Daniel Dreier.

Highlights:
- Volkswagen Employees from the Wolfsburg, Emden, Kassel and Salzgitter plants top the present contest charts
- Brunswick and Hanover plants are also still in the running
- Over 11,000 Internet users have already voted

There’s still everything to sing for: although Hana Slavickova from Wolfsburg has topped the contest charts ever since online voting began, fans still have the chance until this coming Saturday to move any of the other 24 finalists higher up the charts by voting online. Over 11,000 Internet users have already voted for their favorite version of the Scirocco song.

To vote for your favorite candidate all you have to do is access scirocco-contest.de, and listen to the very different interpretations of the song by the 25 finalists, with styles ranging from rock through pop to country, and then vote for your favorite.

The Scirocco Song Contest

Almost 150 Volkswagen employees from many different departments at the plants in Wolfsburg, Brunswick, Emden, Hanover, Kassel and Salzgitter took part in the contest with their interpretations of the Scirocco song. The winner will perform the Scirocco song in the TV commercial. A jury selected the best 25 singers from a total of 146 candidates and Internet users have been voting for their three favorites to take part in the final since May 5, 2008. The jury can nominate a further two talents. The overall winner of the contest will be chosen by the jury and announced to thousands of employees at the works assembly in Wolfsburg on May 29.

The jury comprises the Head of Volkswagen Group Communications Stephan Grühsem, Head of Marketing Jochen Sengpiehl, music producer Leslie Mandoki and VfL Wolfsburg trainer Felix Magath. 14-year old Mina will also judge the singers as a special guest of the jury. The engaging young singer has become one of music and the media’s high-fliers over the last few months with her Internet song and video "How The Angels Fly", both of which have now registered more than five million hits.

"We are actively engaging our workforce in the Sirocco’s market launch with our Song Contest and taking a new approach to communication. The song and the competition have met with a wonderful response from our employees. That demonstrates their strong emotional identification with our vehicles, particularly the new Scirocco. We are confident this will be communicated to our customers, too," Stephan Grühsem, Head of Group Communications at Volkswagen, commented. "We were bowled over by the large number of candidates and the high standard of their performances. We never dreamt the contest would be this successful, although we were confident that Volkswagen has plenty of vocal talent," Hartmut Seeger, Head of Advertising at the Volkswagen brand, added.

"I wanna be free", the Scirocco song, was written by Leslie Mandoki, one of Germany’s most successful music producers. And a Volkswagen employee will soon be lending the right voice to Mandoki’s words. A special Volkswagen karaoke bus equipped with a mobile recording studio toured the plants so that as many employees as possible could audition.

It’s back: The new Scirocco

Volkswagen is filling in the wait until the market launch of the Scirocco in late summer with the Song Contest. The new Scirocco embodies everything a coupé should be: the fascinating strategy of putting a sports car on wheels that is for use every day of the year at absolutely affordable prices. In the Scirocco, high-class technologies merge with low cost of ownership, dynamic driving characteristics merge with a high level of comfort, and a surprisingly spacious interior merges with an uncompromisingly sporty design.

Source: Volkswagen

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