VW needs to fill more segments in the States!

"cuts_off_prius" (cutsoffprius)
04/08/2017 at 02:31 • Filed to: None

This would’ve been competitive. Dammit VW, you freaking suck. You sadistic, misanthropic excuse of a car company. After you dropped the ball on diesels. Go **** yourself.

DISCUSSION (11)

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > cuts_off_prius
04/08/2017 at 04:01

The VW Caddy has been on the market for 14 years with just two major facelifts. Same for the VW T6. I don’t know if that fact would be positive or negative for federalizing them.

Svend > cuts_off_prius
04/08/2017 at 04:55

I honestly don’t think they’d sell all that well in the U.S.

They aren’t a particularly popular van here.

Ford and Mercedes have the market pretty much sewn up.

Of the VW range of caddy, Caddy Maxi Life (think Connect Tourneo), Transporter and Crafter, I think only the Transporter is only some sort of real seller.

The VWs tend to be the more expensive side for what they are.

duurtlang > Svend
04/08/2017 at 05:33

That must be the UK then. I see tons of VW vans. I don’t have numbers but the Caddy and Transporter are among the most popular I see. The Crafter not so much.

I do hear a lot of complaints though. Reliability, obviously.

duurtlang > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
04/08/2017 at 05:37

Negative, but it also means new generations will be coming relatively soon. Those might get federalized, if VW thinks there’s a market for them. Given the relatively recent introduction of the 2 out the 3 Transits and the Fiat van as a Ram (plus American drive train) there seems to be a market.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > duurtlang
04/08/2017 at 05:45

I don’t think we will see new VW Nutzfahrzeuge before 2019 in my opinion. There is a market for light to medium vans in the US and VW could or should offer the new Crafter and maybe the Amarok. I’m still puzzled why they didn’t bring that to the States considering pick ups are selling like hotcakes. The Transporter though is too expensive and complicated for the USA but even Mercedes offers the Vito/Viano as Metris there.

Svend > duurtlang
04/08/2017 at 05:49

Ye’, in the U.K. the Caddy is no where near as common as the Ford range.

Sure as you go to the larger Caddy Maxi size the options open up a lot more, again quite abit cheaper than the VW.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > Svend
04/08/2017 at 05:57

Very expensive. The VW T6 Panamerica is about 80k € fully optioned.

Hoccy > Svend
04/08/2017 at 06:03

They are extremely common here in Norway. The only small van I see as often is the Berlingo/Partner twins, In comparison I rarely see the Ford and the MB.

Svend > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
04/08/2017 at 06:13

There’s so many other options that are cheaper, better looking (in my opinion) and varied.

Leasing these is expensive because of the higher depreciation, ownership is more expensive because of the cost of parts both new and used.

Svend > Hoccy
04/08/2017 at 06:15

The Berlingo is quite common but the Ford and Mercedes are far more common.

bhtooefr > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
04/08/2017 at 06:19

One problem is that VW would struggle to figure out a suitable engine for a US-market Amarok. Simple, durable, cheap to fix are important.

The engines they originally sold it with in other markets - 2.0 TSI, 2.0 TDI - won’t fly here. They’ve added a 3.0 TDI, which about 3 years ago, would’ve flown, but not now, and some gas engines were also necessary.

The 3.6 VR6, if it fits (could be too long, the Amarok was never designed for anything longer than an 88 mm bore spacing 4-cylinder), would probably work as a base model. If that doesn’t fit, Audi’s 2.8 FSI, or ideally a naturally aspirated version of the 3.0"T” would’ve worked.

Now, if they keep to the smaller configurations, and stay out of full-size territory, that can be the sole engine.