Thanks
Fred

BTW if any of you want to format your messages you can put html codes in the message.. ie < B R > without the spaces gives you a cartage return or enter...

Where do you see Volkswagen five years from now?

Through the year 2000 you're going to see growth through Volkswagen from about 20%-25%, so I think if you did the mathematics based on selling 138,000 cars in 1997, we are projecting to sell over 200,000 units, both VW and Audi in U.S. and Canada. You can see that we have some pretty big expectations the next few years. Obviously we think we have a strong new product lineup. The new Passat is a really strong product for us. There is a lot of momentum in that product both in the dealerships and in the sales numbers. As far as the momentum is concerned, we're on our way to establishing ourselves as a really significant player in the import car market.
 

Does VW see itself as competing with Mercedes here in the U.S. as well?

Absolutely. I think where Volkswagen is headed is upscale. That they recognize that there are people out there that do drive a Volkswagen like the new Passat and say, "Hum. Why should I look at a Mercedes C-class. What distinguishes that car from this car?" People that want a little bit more value perhaps. People that aren't looking for the pretense of a luxury name plate and I think really make a more cerebral choice about the car they are driving. So I think, you can see that.
 

With the restructuring of VWoA, how is that going to affect the dealer level?

If you look at the way the company is structured, and we made this change in 1994, we flatten the organization. Which is a harsh way of saying that we decided to take the executive level people and put them closer to the customer, closer to the dealers. So right now your looking at what we call seven Area Executives around the U.S. and Canada, and they are empowered to make executive level decisions that go beyond just region manager. They have discretionary funds, they have the ability to help the customer out from a customer relations standpoint, to do things that a typical region manager would not have been able to do in a typical hierarchical, beaurocratic structure. So I think that's very important. I think that has helped out our very loyal dealers. Right now were not looking necessarily to expand our dealer buy. It's possible that we will look at certain points with franchises, but we are not setting a goal to double our dealers or increase them by 20%. What we're looking for more is quality over quantity. And so it's very important for us to make sure that the dealers CSI ratings are good and they devote the space and marketing attention to the Volkswagen brand. I think a product like the New Beetle and the new Passat, and the momentum that we've created over the last several years, has gone a long way in doing that. I think they know that we're serious about the market, if you surveyed the dealers or the public four years ago, they would have questioned whether we would have been around today. I don't think anyone would say that now. Most people now recognize that we're serious about this market.
 

There seems to be some variations in the level of customer service, product knowledge and general image at some dealers. Is this also something VWoA is working to improve?

That's something that we recognize and something that we are working very hard at bringing to a certain level, so that people don't see those major differences when they go from one dealership to another. That's why it is very important for us not to look at just expanding and expanding and creating more points. Rather to make sure that our relationships with our dealers are such that they begin to devote more attention and more share of mind to the Volkswagen brand.
 

With the obvious success of the New Beetle as a publicly demanded vehicle, will Volkswagen take this approach more often to determine future model additions?

As with any major company we do a lot of market research to determine what our future products are going to be, but the New Beetle was the exception to that. When they introduced the Concept 1 in Detroit four years ago, if you polled the company, the majority of the people would have said that we will never build this vehicle. It's a nice idea. It helped bring a little passion to the brand by showing it, reminding people of Volkswagen's presence in the market from the past, but it didn't fit. But the reaction was so overwhelming not only here in the U.S. but in the rest of the world, they were really forced to build the car and would have disappointed a lot of people. It's something we think is very positive for us here in the U.S. But whether or not we're going to show concept cars and ask the public it we should build it, and one example is the CJ Coupe. It was important to get public reaction from that, but I can tell you going in that we had already made up our minds that we are going to enter that market. Incrementally, from an A-platform perspective, that made sense.
 

What is Volkswagen's standpoint on the SUV market?

It's something that we are seriously considering. Whether it is with another company like Porsche is still undetermined. But, it is a good possibility in the future that we will have something like that. Whether it is a true SUV or something unique to Volkswagen remains to be seen.
 

Along those same lines, what does the future hold for the Eurovan segment of VW? Will we see a Sharon here in the States?

The plan with the Sharon has always been for Europe only where it is doing well. So we won't see it here. As far as the Eurovan is concerned, the plan is to bring another version here other than the Camper and with a VR6, but we are still months away from that and they will likely be an early 1999 model.
 

How about the TDI market here in the U.S.? Will we see more of this technology finding it's way into future models?

The TDI market, as you know, is an impassioned one, a submerged market with people just sitting out there waiting for the next diesel. The problem with the TDI is that it is extremely popular in Europe and they can't build enough of them there, with some of the models accounting for 60% of the sales. It accounts for less than 4% of our total sales last year and we don't make much on them. It is currently available in the Jetta and will be available in the Passat probably as a 1999 model. There are several new TDI motors that Volkswagen feels would be more suitable for the Passat applications. The TDI is one of my favorite cars.
 

Why did Volkswagen cancel the TDI motor in the 98 Passat?

Volkswagen felt that particular motor combination (Ed: 90hp TDI) was poorly suited to the new Passat in this market. This also is based on U.S. sales and marketing figures and the high European demand that I previously mentioned. There will be a future Passat TDI model that will feature a new line of TDI motors probably sometime next model year.
 
 

 
02/17/98 03:50:08

Name: Brian Kmetz	My URL: Visit Me	My Email: Email Me
City: Streator	Province/State: Illinois	Country: USA
Your VW/Audi: 97 Passat TDI

Comments:
Hey TDI fans, I was browsing around and found a great web-site with some good TDI gossip. Check out http://www.vwvortex.com/ and go to their news section. According to these people an expanded line of TDI engines will make it to North America. But as we all know, what VWoA promises is not always what VWoA delivers. Let's just say I'll believe it when the cars are on the dealer's lots. That web-site again: http://www.vwvortex.com/ check it out and keep your fingers crossed!