New Volkswagen CEO To Focus On Making US Market Profitable

The only way VW will be able to make the USA a profit center - will be to produce the cars somewhere in Asia - likely China (Watch for tariffs though) or Mexico. German produced cars are far more expensive and transportation in Europe to the USA is also not favorable. Usa production of small cars is break even at best - as well.

However - first - VW needs to stop dreaming and start returning the VW brand to its ENTRY LEVEL origins - which is where Americans believe the cars belong - and stop trying to price them upmarket. At the same time - VW also needs to do something to reduce the price of parts - which is another problem. And that has to do with reliability - which VW needs to address. VW (Ad LOTS OF OTHERS INCLUDING TOYOTA) _ also need to either come up with a way to address the operation of the their Dual/Clutch automatics - (Note - Toyota Camry Customers are complaining about their new one too) - whose shifts are often abrupt. IF they cannot solve that problem - they need to return to Planetary gear TOrque converter automatics whose shifts are far smoother and GM proved can be just as quick.

Not sure what you mean about the DSG. My 2014 Passat TDI had one, along with my 2009 Jetta TDI (both sold back) and my 2013 GTI. The Jetta was a little rough, but the GTI and Passat I never felt they had abrupt shifting. The Passat in particular I though was extremely smooth, especially for a DSG.

As far as reliability, my 2002 Jetta 1.8T had coil pack issues, along with the windows falling into the doors. But since then I had a 2003 Passat 1.8T that was flawless, a 2006 Jetta 2.5, 2011 Tiguan, and the three mentioned above. The Jetta TDI was the only less than perfect car, with broken AC and a CEL when I sold it back. I'd take any of them back (except the 09 Jetta).

VW need to get away from the unions that are sucking it dry.

I have heard this from VW since 2001 they make a lot of promises they can never keep.. Remember 800,000 cars sold in the us by 2018??? Not even close.. All of the vehicles they keep showing and promising will either not be made or by the tie they are made its too little too late. The old saying of striking while the iron is hot is not something VW knows how to do! They wait until there is so much competition that their product falls in the cracks and does so little volume nobody even notices which frankly is sad since they can make a good product if they wanted to however they don't listen to the demands of the US consumer!!

Amen.

VW always says that it sees the USA as a priority but do they ever get their build quality, reliability, durability, and cost of repairs to the pace set by Honda/Toyota? Nope.

Do they strive to build cutting-edge cars the American market wants? Nope.

Do they strive to be cost competitive without making their cars look cheap and Third World? Nope.

The Atlas and Tiguan are class trailing designs. The Arteon is exactly what the market doesn't want. The new Jetta is horrible.

Exactly!!

I left my VW store end of October last year which was when the new Tiguan and the Atlas were finally getting attention except all of the people wanted models VW wasn't making enough of or any at all and nobody wanted to wait 3+ months for one which is classic VW they have no clue how to launch a new vehicle let alone build enough inventory to meet the "new car buzz" demand it was always every dealer gets 3 of the same trim to start and we will go from there which always ended up as you got 1 hot seller and the other 2 were beer can turds... I am just glad I got out when I did.

Then you factor in that VW representatives are antagonistic toward dealers. They act like the dealer is trying to swindle the powerful reich of money and that if you do not behave you will be sent to the gas chamber...make that diesel chamber.

Warranty work is a nightmare. VW corporate will second guess all the time whether a repair was needed. Assuming they agree a repair was warranted, you'll get your money when VW gets around to getting you your money.

I can name other mainstream brands where the corporate people work very much hand-in-hand with dealers.

While there is profit in a VW/Porsche/Audi dealer--largely from the latter two--it's just not worth the hassle.