VW also planning engine, transmission plant in the U.S.
Volkswagen has been in a marketing and sales funk here in the U.S. over the past few years, but the German automaker plans to drastically change that in the coming decade. A big part of VW's North American growth plan is a brand new plant in South Carolina (actual plant location has yet to be announced) scheduled to begin operation in about three years time, and to get powertrain supplies to the factory, VW is going to build both an engine and a transmission plant somewhere on this continent. Neither Canada or Mexico have been ruled out as potential locations, and Volkswagen USA CEO Stefan Jacoby told the Automotive World Congress that the company needs to localize the plants to be competitive.
VW would like to grow its sales volume in North America to around 800,000 units per year, and a state of-the-art plant in the union-less South will help the German automaker sell vehicles without worrying about fluctuating currencies. Building up to three new plants in the States will give VW the volume it needs to succeed, and we're pretty sure the ability to slap "Made in the USA" on the bumper won't hurt much either.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Gardiner Westbound 8:32AM (1/24/2008)
VW's priorities are skewed. The first issue is abysmal product quality. The second is arrogant dealers. It will not reach its 800,000 sales goal without customers regardless where they're built .
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Atomicbri 8:49AM (1/24/2008)
Why does everyone harp on abyssal build quality? What VW have you owned? I just don't get it or I just have been very lucky through 5 VW's. I have never had any quality issues with my cars. My latest VW has 14,700 miles and not one issue yet, nothing, nada. So what cars have you owned that they have sucked so much?
Gardiner Westbound 8:54AM (1/24/2008)
http://www.thecarconnection.com/Enthusiasts/Mechanics_Tale/Mechanics_Tale_VW_Heal_Thyself.S281.A9081.html
calebe 10:30AM (1/24/2008)
I totally agree. It is going to take years for VW to turn around it's horrible dealer network and recover from past quality problems. I know there are people that have had great luck with VW's but for ever one of them there are five that have had bad luck. It's a shame because VW knows how to make a nice interiors and they drive really well. Just keeping them out of the dealer repair bay is the big problem.
Alan44 9:26AM (1/24/2008)
Once again another uninformed poster about VW quality. My two years old Jetta with 20,000 miles on it has had no problems and gets 34 MPG on the highway. A very good car.
info 11:18AM (1/24/2008)
My current Jetta has 256,000 miles on it. I have never had eny quality issues with the car yet. The Jetta I owned before it had 235,00 miles on it when I traded it in. My son's Golf just turned 110,00 miles and still is like new. No issues at all. My daughter also has a Golf, 165,00 miles and no issues other than a few minor things. I rather form my opinion on my own, practical experience rather than someone elses skewed opinions. VW didn't become one of the major car manufacturers in the world by making crappy cars.
zamafir 10:38AM (1/24/2008)
woot, here we go again.
MKIV Jetta TDi has seen 175,000
B5 Passat TDI has seen 60,000
MKV Jetta 2.0T has seen 40,000
MKV GTI (consumer reports best buy, I guess they're crazy) 10,000.
I'm glad VW's looking to build this plant, being the first foreign carmaker to establish a significant production base in the US (1979 with the diesel rabbit in PA) this can only help VW - esp as the US economy continues to free fall unabated.
Jared 10:23AM (1/24/2008)
Here's the short version of my VW tale of woe. Bought a 2000 GTI GLX new. Sold it after 40,000 miles because it was continually in the shop. I can't remember everything that broke on the car. Here's what I can remember:
- rear shocks and shock top mounts replaced twice due to a design defect (and needed to be replaced again when I sold the car).
- rear brakes at 20,000 miles. Never had a car that wore out the rear brakes before the front or wore then out so early.
- starter motor
- plug wires
- mass airflow sensor
- thermostat
- A/C compressor
- coil pack
- turn signal stalk
- at least a dozen lightbulbs
And they never did fix the second gear grind.
No, I didn't abuse the car. I'm over 40 and well past doing foolish things on the road.
Most of the times I took it to the dealership, they either couldn't reproduce the problem, didn't have the part, or said that they fixed it but they didn't. So it invariably took at least two visits to the dealer to get anything fixed. Yes, I tried three different dealers in the Boston area. Not one was any good.
I now have 65,000+ miles on a Toyota that I bought new. In that time, I've had routine maintenance done and I had a full brake job done around 55,000 miles. That is it. It is dull to drive, but it works, it doesn't break, and I don't have to take vacation time every month just to get my frickin' car serviced.
I like VWs. I really do. I like the styling. I like the way they drive. I really like their interiors. But I am STILL pissed at the horrible quality and the lousy customer service.
If VW is able to reach the top of the reliability ratings in JD Power and Consumer Reports (and yes, I realize those systems have a lot of faults, but they are the best we've got) consistently for 5 years, then maybe I'll consider VW again. But not until then.
Atomicbri 10:43AM (1/24/2008)
Maybe it all depends where it is built. My VW was built in Germany. Seems any of the ones with issues have come from Mexico. However I have owned two Golfs that were built in Mexico (a 1993 and a 1997 GTi) and had 2 issues on the 1993 model, and none on the 1997 Model and the 93 model had up to 123K and about 87K on the GTi. My friend's mother has a 2007 Toyota Camry and has had like 2 recalls and has had transmission issues at 5700 miles and now at 8200 miles the paint is fading on the trunk! I owned a 1990 Celica and I have to say Toyota's were excellent cars... her 2007 Camry is awful. Panel gaps, rattles around the dash and door on passenger side and the dealer is not sure what to do, cause I think they have never had to deal with Toyota's with issues. Her trunk fading is still an issue cause the dealer has refused to address it, saying they don't see anything. Even when she parked it next to the same color car and the mechanic said he could see it, when the Toyota area mechanic guy was called to come in, the red car was not there the next day to compare it. All they said was maybe they could repaint it.
My brother owns a 2006 Honda Civic and has had transmissions issues, power windows that have failed TWICE as well as 5 recalls on his car. His dealer has been more helpful to fix things than the Camry owner's has, but again this car was supposed to be bullet proof, according to all the magazines and the JD Power and Consumer Reports.
So the whole myth of Honda's and Toyotas are excellent is just that a myth! I know some VWs may have build problems and people talk about them all the time, seems though as the Honda and Toyota drivers are more quiet about there issues, accepting the recalls as just them addressing things, not issues... I know I read the blogs about all the Toyota recalls and I laugh when these owners defend it.... I am like junk is junk, period. Most cars today are built relatively well and actually have less issues than a decade ago. I guess it comes down to what you like and want to deal with. My VW has been excellent and my dealer is great (They are both a Honda and VW dealership so maybe the Honda service everyone says is so great has trickled next door to their VW dealership) and I have had no quality problems.
Jared 10:53AM (1/24/2008)
"Maybe it all depends where it is built."
Nope. My GTI GLX was built in Germany. And the dealer service departments weren't "built" in Mexico either -- they figured out how to be incompetent right here in the good 'ole US of A ;)
Atomicbri 11:05AM (1/24/2008)
Maybe you just got a bad one, like my brother got a bad Honda Civic and my friend's mom got a bad 2007 Toyota Camry.... cars are built by people after all!
Takeo 1:01PM (1/24/2008)
Guys, reliability doesn't really have that much to do with who's putting the cars together. Assembly line workers execute an established procedure over and over and over, (in Lean plants they are empowered to stop the line when they see deviations from what they expect).
If there's a reliability issue it means the engineers and operations management (people who purchase parts from suppliers) haven't done their job. The guy turning bolts in Mexico is doing the exact same thing as another guy in Germany.
VW's quality and reliability problems stem from a corporate culture that thinks the consumer should be happy to be able to buy the product without worrying about if it's going to get them to work the next day.
naggs 12:49PM (1/24/2008)
oh good for you, no problems thru 14k miles, what an amazing machine
/sarcasm
VWs are unreliable at 30k and unusable by 70k. most people buy cars expecting them to last to 150k. with a vw you are lucky to get half that.
Atomicbri 6:57PM (1/24/2008)
Well naggs can you explain my brother's horrible Honda Civic experience? Or my friend's mother's Camry fade out and horrible transmission, all under 12K? My point is everybody picks on VW but not these other brands....why is that? Toyota has been king of the recalls this past year, tailgates falling off trucks, cars paint fading.... but yet they are the best?
Galley 8:53AM (1/24/2008)
So, it hasn't been officially announced yet? You state South Carolina, and the linked story states Raleigh, NC. My sources tell me it will be Anderson, SC, just west of Greenville.
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dausman 10:30AM (1/24/2008)
Hope the Anderson SC area is the choice of VW.
BMW and their employees from the Upstate region of SC have proven that quality vehicles can be produced in SC.....I believe there are several other German companies in that part of SC.
The Montgomery AL Hyundai plant and the Vance AL Mercedes plant have done well also and soon Kia will begin producing Kia vehicles in Lagrange GA....Guess these companies saw good reasons to locate in the southern region of the U.S.....again I do hope the Anderson SC area will be VWs choice
gsolman6 10:45AM (1/24/2008)
I wonder what type of bribe...........er, I mean incentives the locals are throwing VW's way.
Seriously my city, Austin, has payed on average 1.5 million for each new job created with incentives. To me as a local taxpayer it is not worth it.
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nagmashot 10:01AM (1/24/2008)
funny that VW Golf is 3third best vehicle, in a fault rate ranking of 3yo vehicles all classes..based on government controlled car check done by engineers controlling 7million vehicles in 2007..only the Mazda3 and Mazda2 had slightly lower fault rates.
There is a reason why VW is 4th largest vehicle producer in the world and 3th largest car producer (without light trucks) close behind GM... VW sold 1.6million more cars (without light trucks) as Ford and over 2million more as Honda in 2006...
But yes VW customers are all stupid ...
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Avinash machado 10:32AM (1/24/2008)
Hope they can manage to keep the unions out.
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zamafir 12:18PM (1/24/2008)
Even if they dont, who cares? VW makes billions in profits every year, Ford lost almost half a million last year, you can afford to pay for benifits when you're making money... well initially at least :D.