IIRC, in the late 80s / early 90s the tarrifs and exhange rates w/ Germany made EVERYTHING built there extreemly expensive in the US. Keep in mind that any cost the manufacturer has to pay will eventually be passed to the consumer. I don't think VWs got priced competitively until the late 90s, and even that's arguable.

john

> For starters, the price tag. VWoA's price-gouging over
> the past 20 years has been simply revolting. You don't
> see Toyota, Nissan, or Honda using any import duty as
> an excuse to screw people (and yes, I mean on the
> truly imported models).