VW Finally Figures Out That Lack Of A Mid Level SUV Is Hurting Sales

Perhaps the safest way to increase sales in the U.S. market these days is to enhance your range with SUVs, crossovers and pickup trucks. The more, the merrier, as they say, and this is what Volkswagen is contemplating to improve its presence in the States after sales tumbled 7 percent in 2013, when the overall market rose 8 percent to 15.6 million.

VW currently offers the Tiguan compact and the Touareg mid-size crossovers in America, but has recently shown two possible additions for the range in the form of the sportier CrossBlue Coupe and the bigger and roomier 7-seater CrossBlue Crossver concepts.

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atc98092 - 1/10/2014 1:00:32 PM

+2 Boost

About flippin time...

randy3023 - 1/10/2014 1:23:50 PM

+3 Boost

Whatever they decide, it better not cost $45,000 and look like THAT ^^^

cidflekken - 1/10/2014 3:10:33 PM

+3 Boost

I think VW is looking at the wrong issues. Across the board, their products don't even come within spitting distance of their direct competitors' offerings from Honda, Toyota, Nissan, GM or Ford in the US.

VW need to FIRST figure out how to make their current models competitive with their direct competitors in the US market. Don't invest money into creating more products that will continue to fail against their competition.

MattDarringer - 1/10/2014 8:14:58 PM

+2 Boost

AGREE! VW has many issues. The DSG transmission is showing signs of premature failure. There is no Passat hybrid though the segment has a number to choose from. Additionally, where are the Jetta and Passat plug in hybrids like the Fusion energi?

That said. VW desperately needs the Up to battle the Spark/500/Mirage (all three of which are selling. It nees to Polo to play in the Fit/Fiesta/Sonic level. They need the Amarok. The Skoda Yeti is begging to be a VW in NA. They need a Tiguan that is competitive against the Honda SheRV. The CC needs to be replaced by a super Passat so that the CC is the VW "Avalon". The Toerag needs to get axed.

Recasting the Scirocco into a front-engined RWD coupe to battle the Scion FRS / Mustang V6 price point would be brilliant and would allow a Porsche version to resurrect the still-cool 944's name.

VW needs aggressive styling, but more importantly they need aggressive quality control. VW's have too many things that wear out to quickly and cost an arm and a leg to repair--that is not good quality control. VW reliability is less than amazing--that is not good quality control.

carsnyc - 1/10/2014 3:21:50 PM

+1 Boost

Agreed. A look alone at the dashboards of the current Jetta and Passat is like a ride back to circa 1998

iamdabest1 - 1/11/2014 11:18:24 PM

+2 Boost

parents had a v8 touareg for about 3 years- nothing but a whole bunch of problems. wheel alignment was always off, tires got chewed up after 2k miles ( which is like 1 year of driving for them)
a whole bunch of electrical problems and very poor gas mileage.
they LOVE their new volvo xc60.
VW needs to step up their quality.. i will say this though the awd system in the touareg is awesome.