In the US, Volkswagen sells the Jetta. In Europe it’s known as the Bora.
Are they the same car except for the name?
Essentially, yes.
The emissions equipment differs quite significantly, and obviously the UK version is right-hand drive, which means a lot more changes in the steering and engine bay than you’d think… and of course different options are available (no satellite radio in Europe, AFAIK, for example)… but the shell is the same, the platform is the same, and the engines are more or less the same.
Oh, and VW uses different paint mixtures for Euro models, because of EU environmental regs.
They are essentially the same. VW is trying to unify it’s brand names around the world.
A few years ago it was the Jetta here, too. The Jetta seems to be realtively popular in the US (compared to other VW models), but it was/is probably the single most unpopular VW model here. So they tried to get rid of the old image by renaming it.
The Jetta/Bora is simply an elongated Golf. Its sales are very low in Europe. Some people have proposed that if the car was named Golf Sedan or something similar, the sales would be much better.
I associate the Jetta, in Europe, as a uglier Golf because of the extra bit of boot and IIRC square headlights. The Bora name is probably an attempt to get people to forget and buy again.
Having had the chance to work on both European and American version of the same model cars (NOT VWs) I can tell you that while they are externally very similar, when you start to go under the skin there are lots, and lots of differences
Off the top of my head (By no means a complete list)
[ul]
[li]Or just emission systems[/li][li]Headlights[/li][li]Side marker lights[/li][li]Safety (airbag) systems [/li][li]Seat belt reminders[/li][li]steering wheel[/li][li]passenger airbag[/li][li]radio[/li][li]transmission[/li][li]wheels[/li][li]tires[/li][li]A/C system[/li][li]Cold weather starting equipment[/li][li]way different uphlostery[/li][li]different spring rates[/li][li]different shock valving[/li][li]different levels of standard equipment[/li][/ul]
Is this different enough for you? 
Slight Hijack:
in Europe(and supposedly other markets) there is a model smaller than the Golf called the Polo, with a 3 cylinder version of the turbodiesel found in the Jetta and Golf.
This Model is about the same size as a Mini Cooper, but isnt available in the US market, even though with our gas prices as high as they are now a 90+ MPG car would be welcome.
I’ll pick up an issue of “car” magazine once in a while. In the back of each issue is their “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” in which they rate all avaliable cars. The Bora never fares well. They do note that it is very popular in the US. There’s tons of them in Savannah, at least.
I figured the bumpers and emmission systems would be different.
Would it be cost effective to make them all exactly the same?