Volkswagen Aims to Double U.S. Market Share by 2014

Bloomburg article on the new plant and timing to get market share:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&sid=a6a8so1AKbls

Tony

I have no doubt that VAG will try and expand its market share based on the production of the new plant. North America may not be the only market for the plants production. Given low costs of operation I suspect a substantial amount of the plants output will be exported.
Right now the North American VW dealership network could not handle a dramatic increase in sales in such a short period of time. I suspect that VAG is counting on Audi to contribute a large part of this sales increase while keeping margins up.
I am also wondering if the new plant can build Audis as well. If it can this approach makes sense since we have a new Audi dealer in Ventura County making for a total of 2-the same number of VW dealers in the same area.

Well, there will be plenty of abandoned GM and Chrysler dealerships VW will be able to move in to soon if VW so chooses.

After listening to a few unhappy Chrysler dealer's on the radio and TV today, this shakeout will be an immense mess. What in the world are they going to do with all the cars on the lots that are not selling now, and will be difficult to sell once Chrysler is gone? Chrysler is NOT taking the inventory of cars back.

Sell them for half price. Call it the mother of all rebates.

They won't get increased market share unless they put several top gurus in charge of technician training. If you can't fix what you sell....

...and to kick off this sales surge...we give you the Routan!!! Idiots.

oilhammer said:

...and to kick off this sales surge...we give you the Routan!!! Idiots.

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LMAO!!!

oilhammer said:

...and to kick off this sales surge...we give you the Routan!!! Idiots.

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The Routan nudged out a re-designed original beetle. Here was the prototype and still shot of the proposed ad campaign:




The interesting thing will be too see if VW can avoid the fail trap GM/Toyota/Ford/Chrysler ensnared themselves in (i.e. producing 11 tyn billion vehicles without any profit). Our cameras recently caught up with VW discussing these matters poolside:

aja8888 said:

After listening to a few unhappy Chrysler dealer's on the radio and TV today, this shakeout will be an immense mess. What in the world are they going to do with all the cars on the lots that are not selling now, and will be difficult to sell once Chrysler is gone? Chrysler is NOT taking the inventory of cars back.

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Multiple AUCTIONS till they all "sell".

I thought they already had a good market share...dbling it by 2014 seems like a very high bar to set, but I guess its better than aiming low.

oilhammer said:

...and to kick off this sales surge...we give you the Routan!!! Idiots.

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I am also a GM fan. Idiots is a pretty good word for both companies.

Chris

aja8888 said:

After listening to a few unhappy Chrysler dealer's on the radio and TV today, this shakeout will be an immense mess. What in the world are they going to do with all the cars on the lots that are not selling now, and will be difficult to sell once Chrysler is gone? Chrysler is NOT taking the inventory of cars back.

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When they all went bust after the first oil shock many early to mid 70s cars that were brand new never titled , AMCs , Olds , Cads & Chrysler's were still being sold as late as 78 & 79 . In the late 70s my father picked up a brand new never titled 2 year old AMC ( Matador I believe it was ) sedan for 1/4 of sticker for my grandparents . The car had less than 20 miles on it . My grandmother totaled it so he picked up a 3 year old Olds 98 with less than 1,000 miles on the clock for the same 1/4-1/3 of sticker .

With Chrysler not taking their cars back flooding the wholesale market & GM flooding their remaining dealers with returned cars this could be the case again . Especially if we see another oil price spike like last year while car makers & defunct dealers are trying to dispose this crap . Then you throw in the Chrysler ( includes Jeep & Dodge ) & GM -( Chevy , Saturn , Hummer & Pontiac ) dealers that are suing over being dumped current inventory could be tied up in court for years . Can you say a nightmare that goes on for years ............

If VW ( propossed yesterday in the news to rename their auto group of Porsche , Audi & VW as revival of the nameplate of " AutoUnion " ) gets their act together there could be a lot of sales to be made while all this is sorting out .

On a side note here, I read that GM may be required, under their current contract with dealers, to take back the cars from the dealerships they close. I suppose they will just have them sent to the remaining dealers to get them moved.

BKmetz said:

Well, there will be plenty of abandoned GM and Chrysler dealerships VW will be able to move in to soon if VW so chooses.

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This would be a great opportunity for a TDI expert to open a training center for Chrysler and GM mechanics who want to learn something new. About 25 out of 50 states really have no reliable go-to person for TDI maintenance and repairs.

VW is dreaming about expanding their market share. Toyota , Ford and Honda will pick up the remains after GM , Chrysler die.
I see as many Kias as VWs on the roads

Dimitri16V said:

I see as many Kias as VWs on the roads

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Oh yeah right with all those top notch VW service departments....

leicaman said:

Oh yeah right with all those top notch VW service departments....

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They aren't so bad if you drive a gasser.

TurbinePower said:

They aren't so bad if you drive a gasser.

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Wanna bet? What is the difference between an AEG engine falling out due to reused/overtorqued mounting bolts versus an ALH engine falling out? What is the different between an ATQ engine getting the wrong oil than a BEW engine getting the wrong oil? What is the difference between them telling someone with a AZG engine to come in twice as often for an oil change as someone with a BRM?

oilhammer said:

Wanna bet? What is the difference between an AEG engine falling out due to reused/overtorqued mounting bolts versus an ALH engine falling out? What is the different between an ATQ engine getting the wrong oil than a BEW engine getting the wrong oil? What is the difference between them telling someone with a AZG engine to come in twice as often for an oil change as someone with a BRM?

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Okay, maybe my local VW dealership isn't bad if you drive a gasser.

I know too many friends with gas Golfs and Jettas, and while I do some of their basic PM work they're mostly dealer maintained. At least a couple of the techs up there know they're doing, right oils, lots of replaced one-use-only parts.

I hate dealing with their parts staff, however. I do understand that all the parts I'm there for are for cars that are in their twenties, but still, they don't have to fight with me over part numbers every time.

TurbinePower said:

... I do understand that all the parts I'm there for are for cars that are in their twenties, but still, they don't have to fight with me over part numbers every time.

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Your own copy of ETKA will make that much less painful.

TurbinePower said:

Okay, maybe my local VW dealership isn't bad if you drive a gasser.

I know too many friends with gas Golfs and Jettas, and while I do some of their basic PM work they're mostly dealer maintained. At least a couple of the techs up there know they're doing, right oils, lots of replaced one-use-only parts.

I hate dealing with their parts staff, however. I do understand that all the parts I'm there for are for cars that are in their twenties, but still, they don't have to fight with me over part numbers every time.

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I have been to a few VW dealers in China. If you want a real thrill, you need to do that just once. Hardly anyone working there even had a driver's license - most were barely old enough to qualify. Same at other brands there.

On this side of the ocean, I once made the really STUPID move of buying a Ford StupidDuty with a PowerJoke. If you think the situation is bad at VW, try a warranty claim on an IHC diesel with Caterpillar injectors installed with a ZF gearbox in a Ford chasis. After 3 dealer visits in the first few months..and they could not come close to making it run...I just gave up on the warranty and started to re-design the many systems that Ford couldn't. The factory response to their screw-ups? More than just "deny, deny, deny" they taught dealer shops to say "it's a diesel, it's SUPPOSED to run that way". After 40 years of fixing diesel trucks, it is the first one I had encountered with 7 of one injector and 1 different - and the first new one that ran on only 7 cylinders much of the time. Not a single Ford tech in several shops seemed to find that was a problem!!!

No, VW of today is nothing like the highly skilled service shops of the 60s and 70s, but they are holding their own in an age where nobody seems to respect and value skill and competence any more.

TDIs are saving VWoA

from http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/m...-earns-major-design-award-but-sales-are-tepid


Despite how well the design of the 2009 Volkswagen CC has been received, the U.S.-market response to the smooth sedan has been less than fervent. Volkswagen had planned to sell up to 25,000 CCs here annually, but its sales in the first five months of 2009, according to Automotive News, of 8,290, plus a few thousand sold in the last few months of 2008, are on track for a fraction of that.

For 2009, Volkswagen discontinued its VR6 models and 4Motion all-wheel drive models of the Passat and limited the more mainstream sedan to one simplified, well-equipped trim, the Komfort. Altogether, sales of the 2009 Volkswagen Passat and CC added together aren't close to what sales of the Passat alone were during the same five-month period last year.

So far it looks like the strategy hasn't worked so well.

Luckily VW sales numbers in the U.S. are being saved by the popularity of TDI diesel models. Raw sales of the Jetta are down only slightly versus last year despite the market slide; a whopping 81 percent of Jetta SportWagens were sold with the TDI engine this past month, according to VW, while 40 percent of Jetta sedans and 29 percent of Touareg SUVs were sold with diesels.

Why aren't people turning to the comparably priced Passat CC instead of the Passat? For one, there's no TDI option in the Passat...

Yeah, it seems Volkswagen often cannot see the forest for the trees.

"Let's see, all the TDI models are selling really well, but let's not offer any more models with the TDI engine, especially the slower-selling ones"

FWIW, I think the CC is about the ugliest car VW has built since the 411, and just looks like a cheap knock-off of MB's CLS. Sort of a "me too, me too" model.

VW needs to stop trying to compete with MB, and market People's Cars once more.

I am SO GLAD I got my B5 TDI new. Great car, and not replaceable with anything else in their current offerings here.

I guess I missed this thread so I couldn't pile on right away. But clearly VW doesn't really know how to market their cars in the US. I wonder if they will ever find their way.

Pat Dolan said:

No, VW of today is nothing like the highly skilled service shops of the 60s and 70s, but they are holding their own in an age where nobody seems to respect and value skill and competence any more.

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FWIW, methinks that the availability of qualified service engineers is going to keep going down and down as the needed intelligence level to service the equipment keeps going up and up . I don't see any improvement either with people servicing cars, gasser or oilburner, and in the other trades that require intelligence and training.

Inherit knowledge, skill, training, and the fortitude to keep those chops sharp costs money and people aren't willing to shell out the money to retain the few that have the cojones to be the best that they can without any prodding or poking to do it.

When I get my JSW TDI "Real Soon Now", I will also be buying the Bentley and whatever service documentation that I can get my hands on. I can remember when you would purchase a Detroit car that there would be a card that you could send in with a few simoleons and order the vehicle service manuals but those times I think have departed. The service manuals will make great bedtime reading. Even though I may not have all the necessary service equipment personally (will end up with a VAG-COM), I want to know everything about the car that I can and better than the dealer service people (that may be too easy) and as good as, if not better than, VAG.

If VAG wants to increase market share in the US, they had better understand the US and its markets. They do a poor job at it now. I had to order my JSW and that was not a problem with me and understandable. I can't get an estimated arrival date from the dealer and it appears that the dealer can't get that from VAG. I think that is mostly the fault of VAG and their manufacturing system.
Where I work, I can place an order for a customer and tell him when the unit will be built, when it will ship, the serial number and the shipping tracking number, when the information is available.

VAG has a long road ahead of them.

Your dealer CAN get that info for you. The VIN is generated before the car is built, and once the VIN is generated, it can be tracked start to finish, shipping, PoE, transit to dealer, etc.

What happens is so many dealer salespeople tend to try and 'find' an existing car to match what you want. And they may waste quite a bit of time doing so, especially the more option/package/color combinations there are.

But if they do actually place an order, that is still very much beyond their control as the factories must all work together to bring that one vehicle into existence. And you'd be amazed that sometimes just one broken link in the chain can throw a wrench into the works. For instance, some factories switch over to certain types of car production exclusively, like wagon or sedan for instance. You order a wagon, and they get that order right after they switched over to sedan production, you (and everyone else who just ordered a wagon) won't even see your car built until they have finished with the sedan production run. In some cases a month could go by. This is just an example, I am fairly certain VAG's current modern assembly plants could handle wagon/sedan production side by side on the same line, but still you get my meaning.

TornadoRed said:

Altogether, sales of the 2009 Volkswagen Passat and CC added together aren't close to what sales of the Passat alone were during the same five-month period last year.

So far it looks like the strategy hasn't worked so well.

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I really don't disagree with what you wrote, except for that last quoted statement. Sales for just about every manufacturer are swirling down the toilet compared to last year. So is it a surprise that VW is selling fewer $30-40,000 Passats and CCs?

TornadoRed said:

This would be a great opportunity for a TDI expert to open a training center.

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Completely agree.

As usual the government is fostering entitlements instead of offering incentives to entrepreneurs.

velociT said:

Completely agree.

As usual the government is fostering entitlements instead of offering incentives to entrepreneurs.

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Please don't wait on this government for anything to help business. That is not their orientation.

Government + more entitlements = more votes