VW Mk5 sales?

[Aleks]

Now that the new Jetta has been out for a short bit, I've been quite surprised to have only seen 1 here in person on the road! Judging by the US 1st quarter sales numbers, VW is suffering hardcore

Month of April

Car: 17,048 vs. 23,476, down 30 percent

Truck: 1,410 vs. 2,191, down 38 percent

Vehicle: 18,458 vs. 25,667, down 31 percent

Year-to-date


Car: 55,659 vs. 66,000, down 16 percent

Truck: 5,677 vs. 9,610, down 41 percent

Vehicle: 61,336 vs. 75,610, down 19 percent

Which brings me to wonder, how can this keep up?? VW has many more cars to offer, lets look at the lineup!

Golf/GTI inc. Variant
Jetta
Passat inc. Variant
Touareg
Polo
Lupo
Touran
Pheaton
Fox
Sharan
Beetle
Caddy
All models can be visualised here:http://www.volkswagen.de/vwcms_publi...30/models.html

We of course get 6 of them, Europe get the rest plus our 6...I know its bad to dilute a car market, risking of course furthur damaging sales by providing too many options, but a quick look at this local market shows that VW would probably benefit from bringing a couple of the others over here! I'm bored, so lets look at this closer shall we?

First off, the Beetle was a success, a combination of "cute" ad marketing, and reviving a legend brought good sales to this car...unfortunately now, the car has been around for almost 8 years, I would imagine its not popular anymore, lets say it gets ditched altogether, and replaced with the Polo. This would ensure existing beetles would reach cult following status, inspire more interest in VW's at the same time, and allow for the release of a "new fresh" car into the VWoC lineup..With gas prices the way they are, a small efficient hatch may be just what we need, the Golf is too bloated and large to be truly considered "effiecient"

Second, and probably the most glaring omission in the VW lineup in NA, is the Touran....I even liked this thing when I saw them.....Its pure stupidity, we live in Minivan central, Chrysler has been raking in cash on this market, as is GM, Honda, and Ford.....It's beyond me that this great looking minivan has not entered the NA market, VW would sell unreal numbers of these if they could maintain brand loyalty...Hey, even I would consider one if I needed it!

I left out the lupo becuase its simply too small...So small, people would not think about buying it....smaller than an aveo.....Sure its a cool car, but VW needs to break into smaller cars slowly, and with lots of lube.....

Drop the Pheaton altogether, leave it for Bentley....Nobody likes a $90K VW, we all know if we had that kinda cash, it would go to an RS6....dropping this model would allow the Touran to be brought in without bloating the roster...

Touareg, as much as I hate it, should stay....same as the Minivan central comment, this is SUV city aswell.....

Anyone else agree, comment, constructive critisism?

[tintin]

Re: VW Sales going sour, suggestions!

I've heard that VW is coming out with a new model to be situated between the Passat and the Phaeton in 2006. I suppose that would be the Audi A6 in VW badging. I don't think that will help matters any though.

I miss all the neat VWs I saw when I lived in London. My roommate's brother even had a 6-speed 150hp TDI!

Now that the new Jetta has been out for a short bit, I've been quite surprised to have only seen 1 here in person on the road! Judging by the US 1st quarter sales numbers, VW is suffering hardcore



Which brings me to wonder, how can this keep up?? VW has many more cars to offer, lets look at the lineup!

Golf/GTI inc. Variant
Jetta
Passat inc. Variant
Touareg
Polo
Lupo
Touran
Pheaton
Fox
Sharan
Beetle
Caddy
All models can be visualised here:http://www.volkswagen.de/vwcms_publi...30/models.html

We of course get 6 of them, Europe get the rest plus our 6...I know its bad to dilute a car market, risking of course furthur damaging sales by providing too many options, but a quick look at this local market shows that VW would probably benefit from bringing a couple of the others over here! I'm bored, so lets look at this closer shall we?

First off, the Beetle was a success, a combination of "cute" ad marketing, and reviving a legend brought good sales to this car...unfortunately now, the car has been around for almost 8 years, I would imagine its not popular anymore, lets say it gets ditched altogether, and replaced with the Polo. This would ensure existing beetles would reach cult following status, inspire more interest in VW's at the same time, and allow for the release of a "new fresh" car into the VWoC lineup..With gas prices the way they are, a small efficient hatch may be just what we need, the Golf is too bloated and large to be truly considered "effiecient"

Second, and probably the most glaring omission in the VW lineup in NA, is the Touran....I even liked this thing when I saw them.....Its pure stupidity, we live in Minivan central, Chrysler has been raking in cash on this market, as is GM, Honda, and Ford.....It's beyond me that this great looking minivan has not entered the NA market, VW would sell unreal numbers of these if they could maintain brand loyalty...Hey, even I would consider one if I needed it!

I left out the lupo becuase its simply too small...So small, people would not think about buying it....smaller than an aveo.....Sure its a cool car, but VW needs to break into smaller cars slowly, and with lots of lube.....

Drop the Pheaton altogether, leave it for Bentley....Nobody likes a $90K VW, we all know if we had that kinda cash, it would go to an RS6....dropping this model would allow the Touran to be brought in without bloating the roster...

Touareg, as much as I hate it, should stay....same as the Minivan central comment, this is SUV city aswell.....

Anyone else agree, comment, constructive critisism?

[R_Ethug]

Re: VW Sales going sour, suggestions!

yea beetle is getting dated but they sell well

golf and jetta always seems to be a good seller

passats i see a crapload of b5.5 compared to b5 out there

tourag.. a very cool vehicle to compete with bmw,etc offerings i see the odd one around town

phaeton.. 100% agree alex they should ditch it..

mini van vw- if vw does this i'll stop buying the brand forever lol thats pure weak

[Stonewall]

Re: VW Sales going sour, suggestions!

mini van vw- if vw does this i'll stop buying the brand forever lol thats pure weak

You kidding? that is a huge market! The touran and sharan are also the only mini van I would ever buy, and both my wife and I both hate mini vans.

[SoulLegion]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

Even if VW had the minivan come over to NA, it really wouldn't change my point of view on VW. I would still like them.

Think of when we all first saw the new Jetta. We said it looks like an Accord. Well I still love VW(even though I don't actually own one anymore)

[R_Ethug]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

i dunno i'd switch brands to audi or bmw or something.. you don't see no bimmer mini vans lol

[Tuna]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

I mostly agree Alex.....I like the minivan Idea, sure most guys hate the idea of a minivan (myself included) but why not put yourself into a cash cow market, even Porsche figured that out and made an SUV. It seems they keep trying to fit into a market that they will not break into. They are trying to compete with all the Japanese cars like the Maxima, Accord, TSX, etc. The problem is that most consumers look at reliability stats and rule it out right away (it's happened twice here at work in the last year with guys buying new cars, one of them even owned a VW as his previous car) unless their quality rating improves, they will not compete....period. What I find funny is that the main people that really have VW brand loyalty still are "enthusiasts", those of us that like to mod our cars, go to shows, etc. oddly enough the very people they shun at the dealerships. I would also like to see the Polo here, I mean look at the popularity of the echo, aveo, smart. But still no mention of a Polo or a Fox, I just don't get it, and i've given up on the idea, by the time they get one here consumers will probably have moved on to the next craze.

But who knows, even IF VW brought minivans over and polo's it's possible that they would put them into a price category that wouldn't fit them into the right class anyway, I mean even the Eurovan was in some cases almost $15K more than a comparable Chrysler. I gotta say though, it would be so nice to get a nice sporty car from VW again, something with good power to weight. I mean, I like the new GTI, I have since the first photos were realeased, but honestly, it will probably be forever out of my price range. Now something like a Polo GTI? That's a different story, and I bet they could steal a lot of "Civicnation" peeps too, but I don't think VW cares about anyone under the age of 35.

Wow, big rant.

Edit: Can't spell

[Khyron]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

They still only have the base engine and no DSG right? Wasn't that getting released in May? Might help sales...

I think VW is on crack - there is huge demand for smaller cars yet they keep making bigger and more expensive ones. One more year till Polo me thinks.

Khyron

[Cordialtea]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

They still only have the base engine and no DSG right? Wasn't that getting released in May? Might help sales...

I think VW is on crack - there is huge demand for smaller cars yet they keep making bigger and more expensive ones. One more year till Polo me thinks.

Khyron

I agree with Khyron on this one.

Personally myself after all my warranty work in the last 2 years of owning my 2003 Golf not sure I would buy another VW again. Car is going this AM for a new Dash.

Cordialtea

[Tuna]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

They still only have the base engine and no DSG right? Wasn't that getting released in May? Might help sales...

I think VW is on crack - there is huge demand for smaller cars yet they keep making bigger and more expensive ones. One more year till Polo me thinks.

Khyron

If there was only 1 more year before the polo came here it would have already been announced. Look how long they squaked about the MK5 before it actually was "on sale". I mean, don't get me wrong, I hope your right, but I doubt it.

[AgentNox]

Re: VW Sales going sour, suggestions!

First off, the Beetle was a success, a combination of "cute" ad marketing, and reviving a legend brought good sales to this car...unfortunately now, the car has been around for almost 8 years, I would imagine its not popular anymore, lets say it gets ditched altogether, and replaced with the Polo. This would ensure existing beetles would reach cult following status, inspire more interest in VW's at the same time, and allow for the release of a "new fresh" car into the VWoC lineup..With gas prices the way they are, a small efficient hatch may be just what we need, the Golf is too bloated and large to be truly considered "effiecient"

I agree with the logic here. The Polo is an adorable little Golfette, and it looks like it would be a blast to drive.

Drop the Pheaton altogether, leave it for Bentley....Nobody likes a $90K VW, we all know if we had that kinda cash, it would go to an RS6....dropping this model would allow the Touran to be brought in without bloating the roster...

I've got to admit, I think the Phaeton is gorgeous. I'd certainly consider buying one if I were in the $100k luxury car market. I know it hasn't exactly been a sales success for VW, and I don't argue that discontinuing it makes good business sense, but it remains one fine, sexy car.

[Aleks]

Re: VW Mk5 sales?

You kidding? that is a huge market! The touran and sharan are also the only mini van I would ever buy, and both my wife and I both hate mini vans.

I agree, I'm the same, it would be the only mini van I would.....my other alternative to a family vehicle would be a Jetta wagon.....

If there was only 1 more year before the polo came here it would have already been announced. Look how long they squaked about the MK5 before it actually was "on sale". I mean, don't get me wrong, I hope your right, but I doubt it.

I think VW's been on the pot too long....I wouldn't see Polo over here for at least 3-4 years....of course, in the US you can already import them without problem because the bumper requirements are the same....we get F&^#( once again in that respect....

i dunno i'd switch brands to audi or bmw or something.. you don't see no bimmer mini vans lol

Thats pretty narrow minded.....They already make minivans, so do you hate VW now?? VW also made "trucks"....does that make them bad?? I mean, fine, leave me the Touran's, and I'll be driving in this: