Add your comments
Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
Please note that gratuitous links to your site are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments.
GM on Corvette ZR1 cancellation rumor: "Not true."
Follow the Audi Mileage Marathon starting Monday morning
Paris 2008: MINI Crossover Concept
Paris 2008: Aston Martin One-77 (partially) revealed
Paris 2008: The GT by Citroen. No, the whole thing this time
In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Chevy Corvette Z06
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
Paris 2008: Le Day 1 Wrapup
Knight Rider: The Liveblog -- Season 1, Episode 2
By the Numbers - September 2008: Nobody Wins Edition
Reader Comments for
Subscribe to this thread(Page 1 of 1)
Son House @ Oct 18th 2007 10:47AM
Well, not really Guenther... I think they understand the problem well enough. They've made their cars for European tastes, who are pretty demanding when it comes to interior styling, quality of build materials, and demand lots of neat little features. Americans, on the other want, are perfectly happy with cheap and dingy interiors, as evidenced by the Tonka-truck styling and build quality of domestic car interiors, and, to a lesser extent, the Japanese economy cars as well.
And when AutoBlog writes this...
"Interestingly, Winterkorn admits, 'We have definitely added too many technical items that (American) customers don't want to pay for.' What those particular features are escapes us, but as long as they work, that's all that matters."
Again, I think it goes back to the idea that VW's are over-engineered things. The interior's quality just blows away the competition, and VW is starting to realize that no one really cares about that. So a lot of the neat features that go into a Golf/Jetta will be going away in the name of cost cutting.
Which, as an Mk5 GTI owner, I don't really like. If I had wanted mad power combined with a crap-tastic interior, I'd have looked into a Mazdaspeed 3, or some SRT, or a WRX. But it was the VW's million little touches that sold me on a very balanced jack-of-all-trades car. Hopefully this cost-cutting doesn't take that well-roundedness away.
Rick @ Oct 18th 2007 3:52PM
Actually, it's that tonka toy truck styling that has the big three in the dumps. VW is not only expensive, but unreliable. Lowering prices and having lower prices to maintain repairs after the warranty expires will go a long way in my book.