
VW Toys with Giving Up the U.S. Mass Market, and Dealers Fume - petethomas
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-11/vw-toys-with-giving-up-the-u-s-mass-market-and-dealers-fume
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pcurve
This may not be a bad idea, and it was a long time in making, even without the
emission scandal.

Ever since its decision to go mass market, quality of materials took a steep
dive. They also looked very dull because engineering and production cost was
putting constraints on design detailing. For the past 5 years, VW has been
making cars that are duller than Toyota Camry of late 90s. They were given
benefit of the doubt by automotive press because journalists love German cars.
But with its competitors seriously ramping up their product portfolio, riding
the coattail of its former glory is coming to an end.

Their current lineup with exception of Golf is entirely uncompetitive,
particularly Passat and Jetta. There are far more compelling offerings out
there than these dull box on wheel that are product of severe cost
engineering.

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skippytheroo
The American variant of the Jetta was recently a stripped down cheapened
version compared to the jettas sold elsewhere.They even removed the multilink
rear suspension for the US model.

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S_A_P
I feel like the current VW lineup looks like it was made in the 1990s. The new
Golf is nice, but my mkIV gti (while bloated and slow) was audi like in its
quality. It also spent ever 4th month in the shop but that is largely better
now.

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CalRobert
Being the designated mechanic for my wife's 2005 Jetta convinced me that the
only reason I'd ever consider a VW was the TDI. How the hell do teeth start
falling off your timing belt at 60,000 miles and 4 years? How can changing a
timing belt require so many special tools? How can a car be small AND slow AND
handle like crap AND get terrible fuel economy? 25mpg is pathetic. Still
though, a clean diesel getting 50mpg sounded pretty compelling.

VW brazenly lying about the TDI emissions took away the only reason I'd ever
consider them.

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Swizec
Jetta is small? Looks like a big fancy car to me.

This is a small VW:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Polo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Polo)

(and yes, nobody buys non-TDI volkswagens these days, at least not in Europe)

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skippytheroo
The Jetta is pretty big. For some reason Americans seem to classify it as a
small sedan in most articles.

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redthrowaway
Jetta, Corolla, 3-series, C-class, etc are all compact sedans in the US. The
step up (5-series, E-class) is mid-size, and the step after (7-series,
S-class) is full-size.

Things like the Yaris, Polo, Fit, 1-series, etc are all subcompacts.

North American cities are largely planned around cars as opposed to having
bricks thrown down wherever horses used to walk, gas isn't nearly as heavily
taxed, and historically steel was never anywhere near as expensive as it was
in post-war Europe. So there's no _need_ for small cars like there is in
Europe, and people like the comfort and practicality of larger vehicles.

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CalRobert
"people like the comfort and practicality of larger vehicles."

Well, people who ride bikes like me detest larger vehicles, but your point is
true.

Also, let's not pretend that America being incredibly obese has nothing to do
with it.

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redthrowaway
>Well, people who ride bikes like me detest larger vehicles, but your point is
true.

Non-consumers' preferences don't count.

>let's not pretend that America being incredibly obese has nothing to do with
it.

America's preference for larger vehicles long predates the rise of obesity.

As an aside, you're really not doing much for the "self-righteous cyclist"
stereotype.

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jbob2000
In the android phone market, we know that mid-tier phones do very poorly;
People can afford a high end one, or they can't afford anything, so they have
to get the cheapest one available.

I kind of feel like automobiles are going the same way. Why pay for a mid
market car from VW when you can spend another $5,000 and sit in a BMW or
Mercedes? Or why spend $30,000 when you can spend $20,000 and get essentially
the same thing (Jetta vs. Corolla S, for example)?

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georgeecollins
The automobile market is not that simple. It's possible for a car to be
moderately priced, sell in huge numbers, and make a profit. In the mid '90s
Chrysler sold 100k+ minivans a year and made an average profit of $5k. I'm
sure today someone is doing almost that well with cute SUVs.

VW has the wrong product mix for North America: no trucks, no popular SUVs.
They got burned with US regulation because they cheated. It's easy to imagine
that they would do better as a premium brand, but there is no evidence that
they have the brand or the competency. Does anyone remember the Phaeton?
Google that. VW has had this fantasy before.

Source on Chrysler :
[http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive...](http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1994/05/30/79354/index.htm)

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joezydeco
_It 's easy to imagine that they would do better as a premium brand, but there
is no evidence that they have the brand or the competency._

Yet, VW turned Audi around and made it into a luxury brand in the US.

The Planet Money podcast covers a little more into how they did it.

[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/06/15/155039824/can-l...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/06/15/155039824/can-
lincoln-be-cool-again)

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jkot
VW has cheaper brands such as Skoda.

