One of the failures of OUR perception of this event is that the corporate mind is by its nature a short-sighted one. Any long-term benefits, like we generally are trying to encourage, are generally against the ideas and ideals of boardroom types and their tame sharks - er - lawyers. Immediate benefits or threats are ususally the types dealt with. It must effect the immediate bottom line , or appear to threaten the bottom line. And any body using "their" name, and appearing to benifit from that name is a threat, in this environment. Simplified somewhat, I realize, but remember - corporate "good" is not always the same as people "good".

John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET> wrote: How many of us are on this list??? 100? 500? 1000?

Would it not be at least an eyebrow lifter if in the VW Towers of Power
they received a formal protest with the signatures of hundreds of
vanagon owners on it??

VW is making a colossal mistake in exercising this negative attitude
about their name being associated with things. They could do so much,
gain so much publicity, a lot of it free, for their products, if they
connected themselves to things. Th could build a product loyalty that
you wouldn't beleive. But are they doing that?? No. Instead they are
digging themselves a hole. I for one, at this point, will never buy one
of their new products. It will be American or Japanese next time. The
Vanagon is from an era that has passed, and may eventually become
supported entirely by the aftermarket folks, just like the old Beetles
and Buses. A crappy corporate culture will permeate all the way down to
the bottom, and eventually result in the erosion of the customer base.
Those turkeys are really blowing it.

My $0.02.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Evan Mac Donald

1984 Wolfburg
1985 GL 7 Pass.
1991 Carat Weekender
1972 Chevy P/U
1993 Bonneville