VW loses money on every car it ships to the United States, where it has gone from hot sales and hip image to badly tarnished in the space of a few short years. Sales in the year ended in August fell 19 percent and, even worse, VW has fallen to near bottom of the JD Power quality rankings. "It's astounding, when you think of the quality of German engineering, and devastating," says David Cole, head of the Center for Automotive Research in Detroit. "Once you destroy a myth, it's very hard to re-establish one."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9784776/site/newsweek/

 

Damn! I remember years back when VW had some crazy stigma about them being hip and cool. Well that sure as hell changed in the last several years

 

I guess people are finally getting bored of the hip and cool bug.

 

Coilpacks and window regulators

 

Maybe the German auto work force doesnt need the beer break mid shift?

Dont drink and make cars!

New M.A.A.D. Slogan!!

 

reminds me of the VW bugs which off the lot where compatiable with Ipods. I know a handful of people who bought on simply on that statement...

a $3x,xxx car, for compatiablity with a $300.00 MP3 player.

It pays to be hip i guess

 

It would be nice if VW built a halo car that didn't bore people with it's presence. The R32 isn't enough of a car to justify its price, and most enthusiasts I have talked to seem to feel the same way. I got a chance to sit in an new Acura RL and a VW Phaeton back to back, and even though the Phaeton was about double the price of the Acura, the Acura was definetly the nicer car.

 

Lesson to everybody; DO NOT BUILD **** IN MEXICO!
Nissan cars are **** too tha are Mexican built.

 

They've been a very troubled brand for as long as i could remember.

 

It's because their new product sucks. The Jetta is a great example. They Americanized it by making it as large as a Passat, heavier and giving it a larger, lower reving engine - and then they gave it Japanese styling. Hello? You idiots, I wanted a EUROPEAN car, not what Europe thinks Americans would like, and people don't buy Corollas for the styling. Then, they had the audacity to charge like $10,000 more for the same trim level as what I paid in 2000.

I don't know anyone who has the old Jetta (and I know several that own them) and not a single one of them like the new Jetta. I won't even mention anything about the Phaeton.

 

After my 87 VW i will never buy another liquid cooled VW. German Engineering just means its f***ed up and no one can understand it. Its from all the beer they drink, why do you think Ireland doesnt produce cars. They are too drunk to do it. Wait sh** I am both german and irish sorry im dropping from the automotvie field to help you guys out.

 

The engines are fine the trannys are a POS. I had problems every two months with mine. If I could put a GM tranny from the cobalt ss i would have kept that Cabriolet.

 

Its so true, I was talking to an old guy from Ireland who had friends working in the car factory, (I think it was a GM one.) He said back in the day at break all the drinkers would go out and drink, and all the tokers would go smoke up at break.

 

Yeah, VW has been up and down for a lot of years. And the global automotive market has gotten so competitive now that it doesn't take more than a couple missteps to really sink a company. I think part of their problem is that they're really going through an identity crisis -- they don't know whether they want to be the company that makes cute New Beetles, or serious $$$ Phaetons and Touaregs.

Kind of a shame, really. The company is obviously capable of doing some great things.

Dave
http://www.autiv.com/articles/drive_...stang_gt_1.htm

 

even though the VW brand has gone to the crapper, with new offereings like the Jetta GLI (which is apparently neither quick nore fun to drive if you believe C&D), Audi has still got to be doing quite well I'd think. The A3 should be good. Their Quattro still rules, and the new DI engines are pretty peppy/responsive and get decent MPG. Audi isn't bread&butter, but at least it still shows VW group can put out some good product. On the other hand, with VW brand trying to reach for Audi image-wise, gotta ask how "bread&butter" VW expects to be if thier goal is to sell prestige instead of volume.