What I heard about three years ago was that VW doesn't consider the US 
     a major ma;rket for aall their vehicles- trucks, vans, etc.  Obviously 
     they build an incredibly efficinet vehicle, but not the perfect model 
     for US cities and spread out suburbs.  VW is a huge, successful 
     company.  I don't hink we can base our american car market as the 
     standard for the whole world.    I think the same can be said for 
     MErcedes- they have produced mini vans and trucks for about 10 years- 
     they just don't market them in the USA.  And of course, the Japanese 
     make hundreds of atiny, tiny cars for their market that they don't 
     bring over here.  I'd really like to see global sales of VW utility 
     vehicles before I put the whole vw complex into bankruptcy.

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: I heard a 'nasty' rumor!
Author:  Norman_Leong@baynetworks.com at IPNET
Date:    3/4/96 12:47 PM

Jim D. wrote:
     
>drives the big thing. Even in Europe. But with VW's base prices about 5K 
>more than the others why would anyone buy a VW.  I can buy a caravan for 
>about 18K, with big HP V6 and lots of extra's. I'm just to loyal to VW to
     
That's an interesting observation; OK, what if VW(US or otherwise) decided 
to build the Eurovan in Puebla, MX instead of Hanover,FRG?  That would 
probably get some of the cost down, but that's probably not the whole story.
     
People who drive the Big 3 minivans are probably after a couple main things; 
they (supposedly) drive like cars, and they want the ability to drag many 
items/
people around w/ them.  OK, so that said, the only reason that I can see for 
why the EV went over like a lead balloon here (US) was because of poor mar- 
keting (as has already been made abundantly clear), and maybe not enough 
"ooomph" to get a 2 ton vehicle to merge w/ traffic fast enough to people's 
liking.  I don't know that a VR6 is going to do it for VWUS, either, because 
it doesn't appear to be an inexpensive engine for an inexpensive vehicle.
     
Hmm, I wonder if I can get a big bore kit for that I-5 in my EV?...
     
Norman
nleong@baynetworks.com
EV
Jetta GLI  (Super Beetle?....uh, I don't think so...)