VW's Transition to Toyota Nearly Complete

[Heeltoe]

Volkswagen Is Steering Toward American Tastes (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR2009100403152.html?hpid=moreheadlines)


Jacoby is steering the brand in a new direction that focuses ... more on the expectations of middle-class buyers -- such as cup holders, entertainment systems and other creature comforts


Jacoby, 51, offered few details about the cars, other than that they will be among the first Volkswagen vehicles built specifically for American taste. The cars will have a decidedly less European feel, with a more user-friendly steering wheel and entertainment system, an accelerator and brake pedal that are farther apart, and larger cup holders

Does nobody over there remember the Rabbits built at the Westmoreland plant whose "Americanization" killed interest among buyers who liked the stiff suspension and precision handling of the german import.

All I can imagine for what they have in mind for the steering wheel is the button-laden monstrosities pontiac had been using that i know has so many fans on here

i've felt volkswagen have become too bloated and too heavy since the Mark IV's but this seems like it will be the final death knell. i just wish they wouldn't ruin the great brand by calling these new refrigerators volkswagens, it will make me want to strip the badges off my mk I gli.


Officials... are pinning their hopes on a bigger compact sedan that will be introduced in 2010

Maybe this is just poor writing on the Post's part, but how can they offer a bigger compact sedan when they haven't offered a regular compact sedan in 16 years, when they stopped importing the fox, which was the last vw i really, really liked. since then, i've always felt vw was saying screw you to buyers who wanted a cheap, stripped, nimble car that was fun to drive with a good power to weight ratio and precise handling. sure they had the golf, but it had added considerable weight over the years and was compact only in the sense that it was a severely over-priced midsize sedan just without a trunk.

the only good thing here is saying the will bring more diesels to the US, but i've heard that noise before from vw, many, many times

[Napoleon]

Does nobody over there remember the Rabbits built at the Westmoreland plant . . .


Yes and slightly off topic but I use to drive by that plant every once and a while, but the last time was a long time ago and it was idle from VW closing it. What did they ever do with it?

[Sean Malone]

I've never stepped foot inside a VW dealer and probably never will.

[oddlycalm]

Agreed, if VW loses it's touch on it's smaller and sportier cars they will suffer accordingly, but they of all companies have the Westmorland object lesson before them. That fact is that VW can't really compete in the US as a niche brand that sells only small sporty cars and diesels. To be really successful they have to address both customer bases.

VW/Audi is just that. They share platforms and components across both model lines just like a lot of other companies do and they target models for their larger markets. They have the components and platforms to offer less opulent versions of the Audi range at the VW stores so expecting otherwise is not realistic.

oc

[Heeltoe]

Yes and slightly off topic but I use to drive by that plant every once and a while, but the last time was a long time ago and it was idle from VW closing it. What did they ever do with it?

Apparently it became a Sony plant to manufacture television tubes (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n6_v35/ai_13246858/pg_8/?tag=content;col1), but recently announced it would close (http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/corporate_news/release/38227.html)

[nrc]

Transition to Toyota? Isn't an unreliable car built to American tastes more like transitioning to GM? :gomer:

[oddlycalm]

Transition to Toyota? Isn't an unreliable car built to American tastes more like transitioning to GM? :gomer:

:D:laugh::rofl: Nicely played.

oc

[pchall]

Volkswagen Is Steering Toward American Tastes (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR2009100403152.html?hpid=moreheadlines)

Does nobody over there remember the Rabbits built at the Westmoreland plant whose "Americanization" killed interest among buyers who liked the stiff suspension and precision handling of the german import.



I went to a VW dealership and looked over and test drove a Westmoreland Rabbit. When I got back and handed over the keys the sales dweeb asked how liked the "new" Rabbit. I told him that unless I could get a car built to German standards from Wolfsburg or Mexico he'd never see me again. He had no answer to that. I don't think he even had a concept of what I meant, but I think saying I was in the market for a Volkswagen and not some grandmother's Dodge did sink in a bit.

Eventually I wound up with a Renault R17 Gordini coupe, but that is a different story for another time.

[Napoleon]

. . . I wound up with a Renault R17 Gordini coupe. . . .

You do understand that you will never be able to credibly opine as to anything automotive on these forums again after that admission, don't you?

[cameraman]

Eventually I wound up with a Renault R17 Gordini coupe What are you, a rabid Jean-Luc Thérier fan?