Volkswagen seems to have very much taken it's eye off the ball and sales are
in free fall as a consequence.

The core vehicles are aged compared to the competition and reliability of
recent models has been poor.

The distraction of spending big bucks pursuing the CEO's egotistical fantasy
instead of tending to basics such as keeping the Jetta and Passat
competitive are resulting in a very high price which is being paid not by
said CEO, but by the dealers and VW employees who have to live off of a
greatly reduced revenue stream.

VW let the world take away the minivan marketplace which it arguably
invented with the microbus.

Meanwhile VW has spent gigabucks on the Phaeton. VW owns Bentley and Audi.
It is absurd for them to be spending money on silly products like the Passat
W8 and the Phaeton.

Passat-W8: An answer to the question nobody is asking.
Phaeton: A more expensive answer to that same question!

Here is a link to today's USA Today article on the skid of Euro car brand
sales:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...shitskidsinusa


John

good troll

VW don't own Audi its part of a group.

Amen! Volkswagen... the people's car... uhumm *clears throat* the rich
people's car.

My next car is going to be an Audi, these VW's are poorly built in my
opinion. great cars they are though.

In article <107m6crbqp9h85b (AT) corp (DOT) supernews.com>,
"John Horner" <jthorner (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

rebates. However, it also said that VW has assembled a 50 person task
force to work on solving quality problems. So in the end, maybe
something good will come out of this for us VW folks.

I've been screaming over the same issues for some time. VW obviously has little
to no grasp on what the American consumer is looking for, and they're waiting
entirely to long to get new models to the North American market. The new Passat
should've been developed and ready to go back in early 2003 so that it's
release could coincide with the releases of the new Accord and Galant as well
as updated versions of the Camry. The new GTi is slated to have 200Hp and will
probably start over $20k while the 230Hp Neon SRT-4 can scream to 60 in 5.3
seconds for just under the $20k mark. And have they forgotten about the WRX?
Say goodbye to VW of America folks, it's going bye-bye!

"Steve Grauman" <oneactor1 (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote


The Jetta has been popular for ages and the current Passat has been a huge
success here. They have at least some idea.


Not necessarily. Their model cycle isn't any longer than other German car
makers'.

However it does seem like most new models debut overseas first a year
earlier. Why the delay of a year I don't know but it's been that way for
ages.

No...which is why the R32 is here. However the lack of a 5-door model I
don't understand (Europe has them).

Hardly. VWoA might never be the import leader but I doubt they're going
away anytime soon.

"Steve Grauman" <oneactor1 (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote


The Jetta has been popular for ages and the current Passat has been a huge
success here. They have at least some idea.


Not necessarily. Their model cycle isn't any longer than other German car
makers'.

However it does seem like most new models debut overseas first a year
earlier. Why the delay of a year I don't know but it's been that way for
ages.

No...which is why the R32 is here. However the lack of a 5-door model I
don't understand (Europe has them).

Hardly. VWoA might never be the import leader but I doubt they're going
away anytime soon.

Outsold by the Civic and Focus, among others.

Outsold by the Camry and Accord.

Ok, if you say so.

This isn't really the point. VW is holding off much needed replacements while
the big boys are letting loose with new cars. If they have to cut production
cycles shorter than normal in order to keep up, so be it.

The R32 competes with the WRX STi, and has a post-$30k price tag. I'm talking
about something under $24k with AWD and a sub-6 second 0-60 time.

They're losing market share and seem not to care.

In article <20040414222949.22121.00000363 (AT) mb-m06 (DOT) aol.com>,
oneactor1 (AT) aol (DOT) com (Steve Grauman) wrote:

I can tell you haven't actually _driven_ these cars. The SRT-4 is
cheaply built and might outlast the payment book. Every review I've
seen of the Subaru comments on the cheapo interior. If all you want is
a rocket engine with enough other bits to call it a car, fine. But
that's not what VW is selling.

sd