Volkswagen cutting half its models
Discussion
The news is everywhere this morning.
Which do we think will go?
I'm betting all the ID. models except ID.3 Neo, and the ID.Polo. ID.TRoc debatable.
Polo should go. It's dire.
Golf even - when was the last time you saw a new, run of the mill Golf?
And they effectively gave their commercial arm away to Ford, so they can't even run and hide there like Ford did in Europe. Speaking of which, hopefully this also means the Ford Explorer and Capri die.
Which do we think will go?
I'm betting all the ID. models except ID.3 Neo, and the ID.Polo. ID.TRoc debatable.
Polo should go. It's dire.
Golf even - when was the last time you saw a new, run of the mill Golf?
And they effectively gave their commercial arm away to Ford, so they can't even run and hide there like Ford did in Europe. Speaking of which, hopefully this also means the Ford Explorer and Capri die.
This article says the cut is across all VAG brands.
https://www.motor1.com/news/801179/vw-group-reduce...
I hope the Superb survives.
https://www.motor1.com/news/801179/vw-group-reduce...
I hope the Superb survives.
Ed Boon II said:
Wills2 said:
Because when the going was good it made them lots of profit....
Seems more like they were so desperate for market share that they tried to cover all bases?Can it really make them more profit by having such a diverse range of basically the same vehicle?
It's not a hard concept to grasp.
Problems have hit the VW group and other western car manufacturers, but going back a few years and the VW plan was working well.
They did a BMC / British Leyland, but made it work so much better.
BMC had branded models; Austin 1100; Morris 1100; MG 1100; Riley Kestral; Wolseley 1100; Vanden Plas Princess 1100.
What a dog's dinner that all was. All those models competing amongst themselves and they all looked almost identical.
VW Group decided on a very similar strategy, but in a far better way and each brand of the same model did not look almost identical.
Each sub-make was much more clearly aimed at different groups of customers.
Audi - Sporty, higher price and more premium.
VW - Dependable and fairly classless
Seat - Slightly cheaper than VW.
Skoda - For the VW buyer who wanted the lowest prices. The customers felt slightly guilty buying a Skoda, but never missed an opportunity to tell everyone, "It's a VW underneath".
All went well for many years, but the slippery slope probably began, when they and others set up joint venture factories within China. The Chinese joint venture partners then had access to every detail about car construction and manufacturing methods.
They soon used that knowledge, to create their own even more efficient car manufacturing operations.
Now they are in the process of dominating the world car industry, with a little pricing help from - - - - - - .
Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 16th July 22:42
I think the leon/octavia class of cars will go. I30 and focus are already planned out. The superb/passat will have very limited future.
Suvs seem to be selling well but haw many small suv variations do we need really.
Split North America and European lines and that is.
I dont see why the ID line up needs to be reduced as in Europe electric vehicles are the future.
Suvs seem to be selling well but haw many small suv variations do we need really.
Split North America and European lines and that is.
I dont see why the ID line up needs to be reduced as in Europe electric vehicles are the future.
When VW group expanded into the Skoda / Seat space 25 years ago I used to jokingly refer to it as 'Deutches Leyland'.
It turns out that having multiple brands sharing platforms that compete with eachother in the market never works for long, even if in the short term while the going is good it does.
National car makers were the standard until the 1970's when the Germans and French started to dominate the British market, then the Japanese got their act together and elbowed the French down market and the Germans up market, and this essentially left the UK's domestic car makers fighting a war on 3 fronts which we all know they lost.
Now the Germans have dominated every market segment and are facing the same attack from the Chinese that the Japanese pulled off, except the Chinese are going for the bottom and middle market segments, for now.
For those of us old enough to remember the Lexus LS400 as a new car it really did mark the point where the Japanese were taken seriously.
That is <10 years away for a Chinese car.
It turns out that having multiple brands sharing platforms that compete with eachother in the market never works for long, even if in the short term while the going is good it does.
National car makers were the standard until the 1970's when the Germans and French started to dominate the British market, then the Japanese got their act together and elbowed the French down market and the Germans up market, and this essentially left the UK's domestic car makers fighting a war on 3 fronts which we all know they lost.
Now the Germans have dominated every market segment and are facing the same attack from the Chinese that the Japanese pulled off, except the Chinese are going for the bottom and middle market segments, for now.
For those of us old enough to remember the Lexus LS400 as a new car it really did mark the point where the Japanese were taken seriously.
That is <10 years away for a Chinese car.
stevemcs said:
I think that applies to the European car industry, people keep buying the Chinese cars because they want a knock off Range Rover or £200 pcp, I don t think we can blame China either, they will rule the world without ever firing a missile
The reason they went down the EV path,is one reason, they did not want reliance on oil from the ME, it was out of their control.They had been planning for EV s since the early 2000 s, now they control the EV market ,their technology is second to none in this regard,legacy manufacturers are now scrambling to adapt & survive, it is a very different automotive world we live in.Renault has now have an office in Shangai, to harness their Technology,they have seen that there is no other choice.Adapt or die.Stick Legs said:
When VW group expanded into the Skoda / Seat space 25 years ago I used to jokingly refer to it as 'Deutches Leyland'.
It turns out that having multiple brands sharing platforms that compete with eachother in the market never works for long, even if in the short term while the going is good it does.
National car makers were the standard until the 1970's when the Germans and French started to dominate the British market, then the Japanese got their act together and elbowed the French down market and the Germans up market, and this essentially left the UK's domestic car makers fighting a war on 3 fronts which we all know they lost.
Now the Germans have dominated every market segment and are facing the same attack from the Chinese that the Japanese pulled off, except the Chinese are going for the bottom and middle market segments, for now.
For those of us old enough to remember the Lexus LS400 as a new car it really did mark the point where the Japanese were taken seriously.
That is <10 years away for a Chinese car.
It will a lot less than 10 years,already they are just about there.It turns out that having multiple brands sharing platforms that compete with eachother in the market never works for long, even if in the short term while the going is good it does.
National car makers were the standard until the 1970's when the Germans and French started to dominate the British market, then the Japanese got their act together and elbowed the French down market and the Germans up market, and this essentially left the UK's domestic car makers fighting a war on 3 fronts which we all know they lost.
Now the Germans have dominated every market segment and are facing the same attack from the Chinese that the Japanese pulled off, except the Chinese are going for the bottom and middle market segments, for now.
For those of us old enough to remember the Lexus LS400 as a new car it really did mark the point where the Japanese were taken seriously.
That is <10 years away for a Chinese car.
Hackney2 said:
stevemcs said:
I think that applies to the European car industry, people keep buying the Chinese cars because they want a knock off Range Rover or £200 pcp, I don t think we can blame China either, they will rule the world without ever firing a missile
The reason they went down the EV path,is one reason, they did not want reliance on oil from the ME, it was out of their control.They had been planning for EV s since the early 2000 s, now they control the EV market ,their technology is second to none in this regard,legacy manufacturers are now scrambling to adapt & survive, it is a very different automotive world we live in.Renault has now have an office in Shangai, to harness their Technology,they have seen that there is no other choice.Adapt or die.Speed Matters | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff