11th Jan 2006, 09:46
Well to protest against the comment above, German workers have more pride in their work than any other nation other than Japan. Hence why German cars have the reputation that they have. May be VW needs to follow Mercedes and withdraw building their cars in North America, like the way they did with the M-Class. The M-Class got very bad press in Europe for the way it was built, and as soon as Mercedes started production of the M-Class in Europe the problems seem to have disappeared. Most of VW’s products built in Europe still have the very high standards we've come to expect from VW.
Furthermore, once a new model comes along in Europe, (for example, the new Golf) the old factory parts are sent to a factory in South Africa to continue the previous model for supply in other parts of the world. The US will find that many of their VW’s come from South Africa until the new model hits their shores. Hence quality becomes the issue again. One more point, US cars don't sell very well in Europe because of their bad design and bad quality, perhaps this is why Ford and GM are in financial bother.
2nd Mar 2006, 15:30
Ahh, lets look back at the days of old and reminiss about the simple, cute, affordable and bulletproof Vw's, theres a winner!! We know as new models come out in their first years, they have Bugs (no pun), so you are all right, they should stick to what they know, don't pimp the stuff out abroad, and hold their heads up high when they sell these things to us... take care everyone, and believe in these Kars...:>)
11th Jan 2006, 07:30
It doesn't matter where the cars are built. What matters is the quality of parts that make up the car. VW is in the midst of 2 scandals right now. One is a prostitution/sex scandal with upper management, and the other is upper management taking bribes from suppliers. A third, silent scandal (or struggle), is upper management not building cars for their respective markets. The Phaeton flop is a good example.
VW needs to get back to cheap, well built reliable cars.
Audi needs to get back to the luxury/sport sedan market. Why does Audi have the TT if Porsche has the Boxter and VW has a Golf R32???
Porsche needs to focus on sports coupes. There is no reason Porsche needs to be selling that rebadged (and engine'd) Touareg they call a Cayanne.