VW Routan News

Earlier this spring as Chrysler stumbled toward bankruptcy court, one of the announced cost-cutting decisions was the elimination of the third shift at the Windsor assembly plant. That's the factory that produces the Chrysler Town and Country, Dodge Caravan and Volkswagen Routan minivans. According to Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers ...

In Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of the characters decries the need for a set of detailed instructions on a packet of toothpicks. Volkswagen might feel the same way now that 18,500 of its 2009 Routan minivans are being recalled because their owner's manuals don't include a required warning not to put items on or near the airbag. In the words of the ...

That the Volkswagen Routan has been a dismal failure is probably one of the worst kept secrets in the industry, but until now, few have taken stock of just how poorly the badge-engineered minivan was selling.The idea was fairly straightforward, if a tad ill-conceived: take a Dodge Caravan, slap on a fresh face and a VW badge and give it an unpronounceable ...

Evidently, early consumer feedback suggests that Fahrvergnügen is not spelled "R-o-u-t-a-n." Volkswagen has reportedly asked Chrysler Canada to temporarily halt production for the month of February on its new ported-over minivan.Initial Routan sales have been slow, with the Windsor Star reporting that around 29,000 units have been shipped to dealers, ...

With Chrysler's fortunes swirling around the drain, it's widely expected that the only way it will survive is as individual parts swallowed by other automakers. But while the costly Viper operation may find a new home, the most likely buyer for its minivan operation, the product that put the company back on the map over two decades ago, isn't ...

The Volkswagen Routan's "German Engineering" ad campaign has provided plenty of irony-laced comedic fodder for the Autoblog water-cooler, and VW's own press release doesn't help, heralding the Routan as "a stylish alternative to the minivan." An alternative to what?In a perfect world, VW would have revolutionized the moribund minivan segment with a ...

In what could very possibly be the worst auto-related commercial we have ever seen, Volkswagen has somehow convinced Brooke Shields (really Brooke, are things this bad?) to shill its new, at least to VW showrooms, Caravan Routan minivan. Apparently, what the people want is a badge-engineered Volkswagen version of the Pentastar minivan platform. In the ...

Let's get one thing off our chests right away: VW's Routan minivan was not engineered in Germany. Instead, it is a mildly refinished version of the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country twins. We guess that makes these vans triplets, which goes along with Volkswagen's current marketing scheme, starring Brooke Shields. Obviously, it's a farce, but it ...

Volkswagen typically shies away from massive rebates, but tough sledding on the sales floor had led the German automaker to take drastic measures. All 2008 models can be had with 0% financing for a limited time, which should help VW dealers clear inventory before the '09 models arrive. The 0% deals vary in duration depending on the model, with most models ...

Click above for high-res gallery of the Volkswagen RoutanThe new Volkswagen Routan minivan hasn't even gone on sale yet and there is already an incentive on its hood. This one, however, is not your typical cash back deal. Instead, Volkswagen is working under the assumption that the people likely to actually purchase a Routan are those with kids to haul. As ...