VW aims at Toyota - plans to add more U.S. models and drop prices

Lofty goals. But I think that's good for any company regardless of industry. Strive to take on the best to become the best. Hopefully if done correctly, it can only cause their sales to improve. (Doing it correctly i s the tricky part)

I predict that, in the long run, low labor cost and training issues will no longer rule. Most of manufacturing will be almost totally robotized and only those companies that are able to make the necessary capital investment will survive. Wars will wipe out the legions of surplus people who are left without jobs because they lack the skills to work in the new manufacturing environment.

My advice to all is to get as much education for your kids as they can handle or they will be left in the dust. Intellectual capital is the most valuable resource for any country in the future.

Any car company can become #1 with reliability engineered into their cars.

Quote by EL34.

yes, mr. obvious.

so EASY to say. so far ONLY toyota and honda have been able to do so.

quality has to GET high before it can remain high. lol!

The prices *need* to drop and the quality *needs* to rise.

The thing is, Hyundai and Kia are doing the exact same thing, with Toyota and Honda already in the driver's seat(s).

And the difference is, VW gives you a premium driving experience and a premium interior that no other entry-level brands--not one--can completely match. So if they actually did these things, they would stand out as a star among the brands.

S4cabriofoxone is absolutely right. Hyundai/Kia is leveraging its low-cost manufacturing, which is fine. It does not even try to compete with Europeans, because it doesn't need to do so.

European companies cannot compete on cost given the current exchange rate and high cost of business in the EU. Thus, they differentiate themselves with performance, style, quality, and exclusivity. Yes, even entry-level manufacturers like VW. Unlike Will's biased opinion would lead you to believe, real-world VW quality today is actually very high, much better than during the dark mid-1980's and early 1990's. That was 15 years ago, folks, and you act as though every model VW ever made was garbage. Fact is, ever company has had some real quality screw-ups, including Toyota and Honda.

Price leverage, unfortunately, is tilting even more out of European manufacturer's control. China has pegged its currency to a weakening US dollar, which is running at record lows against the Euro -- thus, the largest car market and the fastest growing market are both VERY difficult for European manufacturers to compete. If they dropped price tags on their cars, they will lose what slim profit margins they have.

Back to quality - most posters here write about it as if it was a rare commodity. Not anymore. ALL cars companies still in business are doing better overall, quality is higher across the planet.

The main differentiators today are:
price, capability, style, and features.

In my opinion, VW is doing quite well on those things it can control: capability, style, and features. The GTI didn't win 2007 Automobile of the Year for nothing.

My "biased opinion" was taken from Consumer Reports, JD Powers et. al. VW's quality is not up to par with even Toyota, which the biased opinions here will have you believe has fallen off the Earth. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia make better quality cars than VW. I'm not implying that a VW will fall apart as soon as you drive it off the lot, so everyone can stop implying and inferring that.

I'm not joking--it really depends on how you think of "quality." It could be the duller things, like annual reliability and build quality. In fact, in build quality VW leads but that's not what I'm focusing on. A quality product is also made up of great performance and efficiency. VW gets a ton out of its engines, not just power but fuel economy. The A3 has been reliably flawless, and I can't imagine how the GTI could be worse, unless it's a design defect. With VW's incredible attention to detail, you won't be seeing many of those.

I'm still hoping they start a US plant, or at least a Canadian one... that would solve almost all of their problems, if not all of them.

S4cabriofoxone -- they closed that US plant (in the 1980s) after less than 2 years because they couldn't coax the quality out of the American workers. The cars were bad, and it really damaged their reputation.

VW is #1 in China (and the product is made there). And they have some very smart people working for them (even if they are pretty clueless of the US market).
How long before they start exporting their Chinese models to the US?
That solves their production cost problems...........

What features are they going to eliminate is what I want to know...

Well little things probably that should be options to begin with. I mean, why does the VW rabbit need to come standard with heated seats? It is not something that is expected in this class of car as standard equipment, and not many buyers would opt for it as an option either. Ever bit of money helps.

These are lofty goals, they've yet to realise what type of consumer their going after. They need to go back to the basics.

"VW gives you a premium driving experience"
What driving experience are you talking about, the GTI is not much better than the SI Civic nor the Tiburon V6, the Jetta is horrendous, the Passat is not much better than an Accord or Camry.

The GTI is an amazing performer. Go drive one. The Si is great as well, but it's not as well-built, nor as it as adept at being an everyday driver / track car compromise.

The Jetta is extremely boring, I agree. But at least it drives well, and certainly has a nicer interior than any Civic or Corolla, or even Mazda3. I'm waiting for it to get a styling refresh.

The Passat is a superb vehicle that is easily better than any Accord or Camry. Why do you think it costs more? One example: the 2.0T. I don't know any other entry-level brand that gives you such a fun engine (and transmission--DSG, which is an option) as standard equipment.

I drive GTI's on a daily basis and the last two models are nothing to write home about. The SI handles better.
The Jetta might have the best interior but it has the worst exterior and the drive is slightly better than a corolla which is definitelly not sating much.
The Passat base model 2.0 T despite having more power than the accord 4cyl is stil slower and handles worse.

So when it comes to VW, we can believe Consumer Reports, but when CR states something about Toyota, it's bs....wow...

any VW will get you more play than an Accord or Camry, Civic or Corolla..not to mention VW's are safer...

Now I suppose VW is going to go bland..do away with the sport pkgs, leather on the Jetta and Rabbit, dual climate controls, etc...anything that the comparable big 3 Japanese don't offer.

No, I think they will go back to basics- still fun to drive and luxurious, but cheap enough to manufacture so as to keep in line with stupendously competitive Japanese/Korean pricing.

VW has consistently had reliability problems. Toyota is having some growing pains, that's all. You can't build that many cars and have them all flawless. VW produces and sells less units and has a ton more issues.

"VW will get you more play"

that has got to be the funniest post ever
ahahahahahahahaaaaaaa

It speaks volumes that posters here are STILL trying to personally redefine "quality" in an automobile, trying to defend their favorite brand(s)...

You know if VW would just increase their reliability, more people would be willing to step up and pay that extra price for a nicer interior and better driving dynamics. But right now, it's not worth having those traits if the junk-box is in the shop 300 days out of the year.

the problem with the ignition coils on the 1.8t was years ago.
Get your head out of the sand!
Meanwhile, Toyota ships cars with known defective transmissions, but that's just "growing pains"?
You've never really driven a VW (or probably any premium brand) have you.... admit it.

All VW has to do to increase sales in the US is put a "Toyota" badge on the cars.
Many people who buy Toyotas do so because they've heard its a "safe buy". They don't really know anything about cars, so they probably would never figure it out.
If they owned a Toyota before, they'd be pleasantly surprised at how much better their new Toyota handles, and how much nicer the interior is........

"All VW has to do to increase sales in the US is put a "Toyota" badge on the cars."

LOL!

you mean like how gm slaps pontiac badges on toyota matrixes? and end up with the MOST RELIABLE car in the whole gm stable?

but then, assuming toyota would stoop to allowing that, what about the REST of the vw stable?

vw will NEVER catch up to toyota.

even assuming someday they fix the HORRIBLE reliability problem, they cannot overcome the liability of euro vs. dollar valuations.

this is NOT anything that is a fault of vw, granted. it is simply a matter of national policies and the TRASHING OF THE DOLLAR by our village idiot president.

vw COULD still address the reliability/quality issues, however. and they MUST, to compete here. especially now that even detroit makes more reliable cars than any euro brand.
the others can have their prestige carry them. vw cannot.