VW's Move Down
My Dad just came back from a few weeks over in the mother country (the UK). While he was over there, he rented a VW Passat - the new one. He has owned a 2001 1/2 Passat (the redesign which made the modern chrome trimmed Passat) since new, and loves it. It is the base 1.8T, and I have driven it many miles myself. While sports car it is not, it handles most situations very well, with steady and predictable handling, a peppy engine with good power (with a stickshift) and a simple but refined interior.
That Passat enjoyed many years of good sales, establishing the Passat as a real contender in the US market, something the previous generation (*shudder*) did not...
yeah....
So then, thinking that what the US wanted from their German cars was sophistication, VW tried to move the Passat (and the whole brand) upmarket. This started with the introduction of AWD (4motion) and then the W8 engine - which was a complete failure. No one wanted a $45,000 AWD W8 Passat when it was not that much better, or different, than the $22,000 base model. However, VW pressed on, and came out with the newer, more upmarket, more luxurious, and heavier Passat.
The model was, from a sales perspective, a complete failure. Basically, heavy, sophisticated, and feature laden were not what people were looking for from VW. If they wanted that, they would have bought a Camry LE, or a Hyundai Azera, or any number of other numb, heavy, and underpowered cars which sell based on their leather seats and flashy gauges.
At the same time, the moves in the Passat were being basically mirrored with moves in the Jetta, which went from boxy, to popular and rounded, to upmarket. The Passat and the Jetta both gained weight, features, and sophistication. Here is the quick and dirty version, in pictures:
Now, my girlfriend has that last one, and I have driven it a fair bit (the v6 automatic). And it is a very nice car. Basically, it is affordable luxury - the interior and quality of fit and finish are on par with much more expensive machinery. It offers a nice ride, and good handling, all while delivering a very competent highway cruiser. To me it made a lot more sense than the same generation Passat: there are a lot of competitors for big heavy $30,000 cruisers, there are not a lot of competitors for $23,000 near-luxury compacts. It was not, however, a big success. On price it was competing more with a V4 Camry than a Corolla, and that became an issue in terms of sales.
So what has VW done? Moved the brand down-market. And the end result? Not very good. The Passat is now built on a new Brazilian platform, and shares very little with the car it replaces. Out of 11 compact cars, Consumer Reports just ranked it 11th - which is shockingly bad for a car at the beginning of its life-cycle:
"In an effort to bring the car's starting price down, VW cheapened the previous Jetta's interior and suspension, making it less sophisticated and compromising handling."
CR isn't pulling any punches while describing why the sedan fares so poorly, calling it "a shadow of the agile, well-finished car it once was." Ouch. Specifically, the VW was dinged hard for sub-par handling and cornering grip, poor interior fit and finish and its coarse-sounding 2.5-liter, five-cylinder. In addition, CR came away disappointed with long brake distances and a six-speed automatic that is reluctant to downshifting.
In other words, it is nothing like the car it replaces.
The same goes for the Passat. My Dad came away with the impression of a large, cheap car with poor handling. In his opinion, which I trust, it did not have anything like the feel and sophistication of his 2001 Passat - which managed to feel and drive like a $35,000 Audi rather than a $22,000 car.
The interesting thing here is that VW believes these two new cars will be the key which will unlock the US market for them - really forming the backbone of the US strategy to sextuple sales over the next 5 years. Basically, they see them as directly competing with the Camry/Altima/Accord/Sonata/Fusion and the Corolla/Sentra/Civic/Focus rather than off on the side as the German alternative for those a little more driver-centric. They may be right, and Americans might go for big and cheap with clean looks, but it seems more likely to me that they just hit a couple big fat pop flies to center field rather than home runs.
That Passat enjoyed many years of good sales, establishing the Passat as a real contender in the US market, something the previous generation (*shudder*) did not...
yeah....
So then, thinking that what the US wanted from their German cars was sophistication, VW tried to move the Passat (and the whole brand) upmarket. This started with the introduction of AWD (4motion) and then the W8 engine - which was a complete failure. No one wanted a $45,000 AWD W8 Passat when it was not that much better, or different, than the $22,000 base model. However, VW pressed on, and came out with the newer, more upmarket, more luxurious, and heavier Passat.
The model was, from a sales perspective, a complete failure. Basically, heavy, sophisticated, and feature laden were not what people were looking for from VW. If they wanted that, they would have bought a Camry LE, or a Hyundai Azera, or any number of other numb, heavy, and underpowered cars which sell based on their leather seats and flashy gauges.
At the same time, the moves in the Passat were being basically mirrored with moves in the Jetta, which went from boxy, to popular and rounded, to upmarket. The Passat and the Jetta both gained weight, features, and sophistication. Here is the quick and dirty version, in pictures:
Now, my girlfriend has that last one, and I have driven it a fair bit (the v6 automatic). And it is a very nice car. Basically, it is affordable luxury - the interior and quality of fit and finish are on par with much more expensive machinery. It offers a nice ride, and good handling, all while delivering a very competent highway cruiser. To me it made a lot more sense than the same generation Passat: there are a lot of competitors for big heavy $30,000 cruisers, there are not a lot of competitors for $23,000 near-luxury compacts. It was not, however, a big success. On price it was competing more with a V4 Camry than a Corolla, and that became an issue in terms of sales.
So what has VW done? Moved the brand down-market. And the end result? Not very good. The Passat is now built on a new Brazilian platform, and shares very little with the car it replaces. Out of 11 compact cars, Consumer Reports just ranked it 11th - which is shockingly bad for a car at the beginning of its life-cycle:
"In an effort to bring the car's starting price down, VW cheapened the previous Jetta's interior and suspension, making it less sophisticated and compromising handling."
CR isn't pulling any punches while describing why the sedan fares so poorly, calling it "a shadow of the agile, well-finished car it once was." Ouch. Specifically, the VW was dinged hard for sub-par handling and cornering grip, poor interior fit and finish and its coarse-sounding 2.5-liter, five-cylinder. In addition, CR came away disappointed with long brake distances and a six-speed automatic that is reluctant to downshifting.
In other words, it is nothing like the car it replaces.
The same goes for the Passat. My Dad came away with the impression of a large, cheap car with poor handling. In his opinion, which I trust, it did not have anything like the feel and sophistication of his 2001 Passat - which managed to feel and drive like a $35,000 Audi rather than a $22,000 car.
The interesting thing here is that VW believes these two new cars will be the key which will unlock the US market for them - really forming the backbone of the US strategy to sextuple sales over the next 5 years. Basically, they see them as directly competing with the Camry/Altima/Accord/Sonata/Fusion and the Corolla/Sentra/Civic/Focus rather than off on the side as the German alternative for those a little more driver-centric. They may be right, and Americans might go for big and cheap with clean looks, but it seems more likely to me that they just hit a couple big fat pop flies to center field rather than home runs.
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