Fact Or Fail? Volkswagen Thinks It Can Become the Automotive Version Of Apple

VW has a far better shot of it than GM did when they said the same.

As a VW fan, I say be the best you can be. As a non-Apple fan, I say find someone else to emulate. :)

Disagree on both sides of your assertions:

Apple being innovative vs. VW not being such;
Apple selling quality products vs. VW not selling such;
Apple selling reliable products vs. VW not selling such.

You can't say these things so absolutely. Both Apple and VW have many innovations and both have heavily borrowed and improved upon others. Both target younger as well as older audience world-wide. Both Apple and VW products can have some major flaws, for example in usability and performance aspects, but both are regarded as having a great initial quality and emphasis on design. Finally both have produced mixed products in terms of reliability, batteries, buttons and cords failing prematurely on Apple devices, bits and pieces breaking off on VWs.

Apple is MORE reliable than any VW. VW's reliability record for all models is a joke. Sure, like all electronics, Apple has the occasional "issue", just like Toyota and Honda has the occasional recall, but bar none, Apple is ranked HIGHER than any other maker for its reliability when talking about cell phones and computers - the same cannot be said of VW. Look at any consumer measure of reliability, and Apple consistently hits the Top 2 for any given product line - is there a single VW product that comes close?

I agree that VW is innovative and design conscious in the same spirit as Apple, but VW FAILS in the reliability department.

Apple is innovative? Yes, the use of designs that don't allow you to change out your battery or have any control over your devices most basic of folder sorting option clearly shows that innovation. Apple devices are for people who hate technology, or for people who love forking out large quantities of money for mediocre product and services.

If VW wants to be like apple, the first thing they should do is start offering all of their vehicles in one colour, and only at the end of the production cycle lure as much people in as possible to buy old technology by offering it in more colours lol.

Yeah, right!

VW is nothing like Apple.

Nothing like?! They don't have a cult following?! They didn't shape the automotive industry with the Beetle, the Bus, the Golf, the Phaeton?! They don't favor clean designs with clever features?! They shouldn't aspire to be great like Apple?!

VW is not a solid a manufacturer for producing trouble free inovative products in my experience, so FAIL

Thats what i find scary; the sheer limitless stupidity of the posters on this site.

People happily commenting on vehicles they have never owned, never sat in or ever been within 20 feet of.

Every time i have had a debate with someone on this site i ask them when they drove or sat in the vehicle we are debating on and i never get an answer, its always a repeat of what a friend experienced or some website that had a commenter who said something happened to his VW.

I just have to console myself that arguing with a fool is not wise as the fools outnumber the smart ones and they group together to boost their fellow fool's comments while de-boosting the comments of perceived "Enemies".

You guys are too funny! As an AAPL shareholder (currently holding 200 shares at 387), and owning 1 iPhone, 2 MAC Minis and 1 Macbook I can tell you that their products are indeed innovative but NOT trouble free, as unreliable as my last Toshiba laptop and quite expensive to get repaired. You guys are too ignorant and too funny if you think APPL is bullet proof. Keep drinking the Kool Aid so the stock keeps increasing in value!
We love AAPL products just like we love our Touareg, the VW has been solid, no issues since purchased new in 2008.

Odd, this is 2nd time i click on reply and it shows up on the comment above the one i clicked on.

My comment was a reply to USNA1999

Here in the USA, AUDI has become the Automotive Version Of Apple.

Lol, what are you smoking? Vw/AUDI

...Vw/audi products are boring and conservative, and the company in general is reactive, not proactive and innovative like apple.

Apple products are boring and conservative as well. They all look the same and are only ever offered in one colour. I fail to see your point.

"and only at the end of the production cycle lure as much people in as possible to buy old technology by offering it in more colours lol."

I posted this earlier lol

Products that people want? VW Nr, 2 is sales worldwide? Even if they were at Nr 3 it wouldn't be too shabby for "products that people don't want". Read this IGNORAMUS:

DETROIT/TOKYO (Reuters) - General Motors Co (NYSE:GM - News) regained its title as the world's top-selling automaker in 2011, less than three years after its 2009 taxpayer-funded bankruptcy under the Obama administration.

The Detroit-based automaker's return to the top slot comes as Japanese rival and former No. 1 seller Toyota Motor Corp (:7203.T) slips in the rankings after an earthquake in Japan and deadly floods in Thailand hampered its production in 2011.

GM said it sold 9.026 million vehicles globally last year, up 7.6 percent from 2010.

Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), the German company vying to become the world's largest carmaker, finished the year in second place with 8.16 million vehicles sold.

Toyota will publish its final sales results for 2011 later this month but has projected sales of 7.9 million in 2011, down about 6 percent from a year earlier.

The tabulation of global auto sales is not without controversy. Rankings are mostly about bragging rights, but there has been a long-running and robust debate over how to account for vehicles sold through affiliates.

The sales figures released by GM, which was the largest automaker until 2008 when Toyota took its place, include vehicles sold through its joint ventures in China. Some analysts extract those sales from GM's results.

Depending on how the results are tallied, Toyota may have finished the year in third place. However, Toyota would fall to fourth place behind Renault SA (:RENA.PA) and its partner Nissan Motor Co (:7201.T) if the alliance's sales through Russia's AvtoVAZ (:AVAZ.MM) are included.

Including AvtoVAZ, Renault-Nissan sold 8.03 million cars worldwide last year. This includes the 638,000 cars sold by AvtoVAZ, in which Renault owns a minority 25 percent.

The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, a global trade group based in France, has not yet released its annual ranking of automakers by production.

TOYOTA MOUNTS COMEBACK

Toyota's 2011 worldwide sales tally included listed subsidiaries Daihatsu Motors Co (:7262.T) and Hino Motors Ltd (:7205.T).

Toyota's sales were hurt by a series of disasters that triggered auto parts shortages and curtailed its vehicle production last year.

But now Toyota is ramping up production to rebuild depleted inventory and will add output capacity in emerging markets such as Brazil and China this year. However, analysts said it also faced stiffer competition as rivals step up their game.

"Toyota's biggest problem is that even without the natural disasters, its sales weren't exactly growing," JP Morgan auto analyst Kohei Takahashi said.

"The ranking is not that important, but they need a convincing strategy to boost their sales," he said, adding that Toyota was behind rivals such as Nissan in rolling out small cars fo

I fully respect Mr. Kropp's ambition, but this is too funny.
I hope to see the days when people line up overnight to buy a VW.

How innovative was DSG? VW also mass produced turbocharged, direct injected engines before virtually every other manufacturer and then there's their Le Mans winning TDI technology.

A few of VW/Audi's International Engine of the Year Winners


Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger, winner of the 2011 International Engine of the Year Award for best 1-litre to 1.4-litre engine.


2010 Winners

1-litre to 1.4-litre: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger


International Engine of the Year 2010: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger


2009 Winners
Green Engine of the Year: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
1.8-litre to 2-litre: Audi 2-litre Turbo FSI
1.8-litre to 2-litre: Audi 2-litre Turbo FSI

2008 Winners

1-litre to 1.4-litre: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
1.8-litre to 2-litre: Volkswagen/Audi 2-litre Turbo FSI

If engine awards are what you are going by then BMW is the most apple like..they have won more international engine of the year awards then any manufacture by a considerable amount.

So it wants to do the car equivalent of charging more for lipstick on something made in the same Taiwanese sweatshop as all the other computer brands?

PLAY you do have a point, MARKETING plays a huge role in sales and AAPL has done an oustanding job at making people believe that their products are far much better than the competition. I guess putting lipstick on a pig works!

"Honda Edges Out Toyota For the Recall King Title In 2011"

The Recall king title is mainly because over the past couple years the Japanese companies have released their decades worth of backed up recalls all at once. This means that the decade of low recall rate/reliability, was due to holding out on the customer, and this also means that the current recall/reliability rate is over inflated. They are average at best if they didn't postpone their recalls.

FAIL. VW is all flash and noise, but when it comes down to it, VW will not invest what it takes to be a reliable trouble free vehicle in the same spirit as Apple. Pop open an iPhone and its parts list is of a higher quality than any other manufacturer. It's MacAir was the FIRST laptop to be chiseled from a solid billet of aluminum because that was the only way to guarantee structural integrity at the lightest weight possible, while its competitors (Dell, Lenovo, HP) were still building out giant ugly plastic cases. Only recently at this year's CES did these guys FINALLY come out with single piece ultralight notebooks using Apple's solutions and innovations. It was Apple that convinced Corning to make Gorilla Glass, and thus was born the toughest generation of glass LCD surfaces.

I have yet to see VW lead the way in quality anything. Yes, they have design gurus making attractive models, but where are their quality control gurus creating innovations in reliability? Don't even insult Apple by suggesting that VW is in the same spirit. VW wants all the flash of Apple but is unwilling to invest in the substance.

no, thousands of customers would not be lining up overnight at a vw dealership on the day they release their new jetta or golf, only to be sold out in a matter of minutes.....hhhhhhheeeeeelllllllllllll no!