The thing is, VW isn't really supposed to be the "cheaper" brand in the stable.
The structure is supposed to be:
Bugatti on top
Bentley for comfortable luxury (against Rolls-Royce and Maybach), Lamborghini for sport (against Ferrari)
VW for comfortable premium (against Mercedes-Benz), Audi for sport premium (against BMW)
Skoda for comfortable budget, SEAT for sport budget
Of course, without Skoda or SEAT, that strategy did break down in the US, and IIRC it doesn't exactly work 100% even in Europe, but that was the intent.
So, in the perspective of that, a VW having less equipment actually is odd.
In any case, this is the strategy I'm seeing now, for VW in the US:
Bugatti, Bentley, and Lamborghini where they are
Audi for premium/luxury against BMW and Mercedes-Benz, with a sporty bias
VW split into two "sides":
Golf, Eos, CC, and Touareg in the German premium branch, against the lower-end Mercedes products, as well as the nicer Japanese, Korean, and American products
Jetta, Passat, and upcoming three-row crossover in the American cheap branch, against the mainstream Japanese, Korean, and American products