In the last few months, editors, critics and industry leaders have been talking about the new strategy of Volkswagen in the US. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, VW wants to triple their sales in the US by 2018 and they want to compete with the likes of Toyota and Honda.
The first car in this new plan is the 2011 Jetta, which was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal on the 17th of September. The review is by no means glowing as it compares the new car to cheap and trendy H&M clothing. The problem, from what VW executives could see, was the price of the outgoing Jetta. At a base price of $17,735, the old Jetta was about almost $2,000 more expensive than the base line Civic or Corolla. The new Jetta now fits in very nicely with of $15,995. To get to that price a lot was taken off. The new Jetta is now comes with an old 2.0 Liter engine, no rear independent suspension and a hard plastic interior. Further attempting to compete with Toyota and Honda, the new Jetta is, perhaps, the most generic looking Volkswagen in recent history.
Hearing this news all throughout the summer has been a little depressing for me. Firstly, it is very counterintuitive to have a new version of a model come out and be blatantly worse the one before it. I guess I am just used to models improving with each design iteration. Secondly, I used to want a nice Jetta but I really would not want the new 2011 model. Like many other VW fans, I liked VWs because they were not Toyota Corollas or Honda Civics which seem to fill every driveway and parking lot in America. Perhaps Volkswagen is forgetting why they have such a loyal following as they search for higher unit sales. Real VW fans bought Jettas because they quality, German engineered and fun to drive. I wonder if VW is alienating their most loyal fans, who have been walking into VW dealerships for years, as they try to become a more mainstream and dominant player in the industry.
Cheapening the product is not the way to go. Chevrolet's new small sedan, the Cruze, is moving Chevy upmarket in the small car segment. It has a really nice interior, two efficient engine options, and lots of standard features. VW shouldn't cheapen the Jetta but instead should try and change the image of the brand. Many people thing VW is a quirky brand.
ReplyDeleteThe fight between affordability and quality has been a talk of generations. It's not surprising that VW is beginning a campaign towards cheaper automobiles. Reason being, Toyota and Honda sales individually surpass VW's sales in the year 2010. Although "cheapening" the products may alienate consumers and dissuade them from purchasing a VW it will convince more new customers rather than alienate more to purchase the newly affordable and stylish VW. After all, our nation is finally over a depression, the most sensible thing our nation could do at this point is to spend wisely.
ReplyDelete- Paul Jung