VW - Becoming an SUV brand

[Sheepshanks]

unsprung said:

Sheepshanks said:

I might be due a whoosh parrot here, but what's so astonishing about it?

Perhaps I could have explained myself better. What I meant to get across is that I did not immediately expect that VW, who are celebrated for their Golf and similar-sized vehicles, would design and build a large-ish SUV. (it's actually classified in the US as a mid-sized SUV, so not among the very largest)

Obviously, VW did the research and ran the numbers and realised that their brand could stretch to this vehicle and do so profitably. It's made in Tennessee (at least: the one sold in the US is made there).

They've had Touareg for Goodness know how many years. As I see it, Atlas is basically a larger version of the current Tiguan (I don't mean Allspace, I know all the US Tiguan Mk2's are Allspace sized).

I don't know the US market well, but I think Atlas would be head-to-head against Honda Pilot, which I gather is pretty popular. So it'd be a well understood segment.

[unsprung]

Sheepshanks said:

They've had Touareg for Goodness know how many years. As I see it, Atlas is basically a larger version of the current Tiguan (I don't mean Allspace, I know all the US Tiguan Mk2's are Allspace sized).

I don't know the US market well, but I think Atlas would be head-to-head against Honda Pilot, which I gather is pretty popular. So it'd be a well understood segment.

yes, that's right

[MC Bodge]

unsprung said:

Perhaps I could have explained myself better. What I meant to get across is that I did not immediately expect that VW, who are celebrated for their Golf and similar-sized vehicles, would design and build a large-ish SUV. (it's actually classified in the US as a mid-sized SUV, so not among the very largest)

Obviously, VW did the research and ran the numbers and realised that their brand could stretch to this vehicle and do so profitably. It's made in Tennessee (at least: the one sold in the US is made there).

Astonishing.

I couldn't even imagine VW selling a slightly smaller SUV in Europe for the past 15years or so.....

[RDMcG]

unsprung said:

yes, that's right

The Touareg was a poor seller in the US..too expensive and not a seven seater. People win the US prefer bigger vehicles and more space for fewer dollars. The Atlas is a more cheaply build car for the market with more passenger space. Three rows.

[RDMcG]

All brands in the US are affected by the SUV craze...lux market now 60% of sales:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19...

[DonkeyApple]

RDMcG said:

All brands in the US are affected by the SUV craze...lux market now 60% of sales:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19...

It’s almost as if it’s correlated to the whole ‘free money for everyone’ Greenspanenomics.

[unsprung]

DonkeyApple said:

RDMcG said:

All brands in the US are affected by the SUV craze...lux market now 60% of sales:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19...

It’s almost as if it’s correlated to the whole ‘free money for everyone’ Greenspanenomics.

It's because household incomes are greater on the left side of the Atlantic.

At the same time, the number of competing products is greater. And operating costs lower.

This tends to "democratise" things that are premium as brands determine that they must offer ever more features / enhancements to remain competitive. It is identical to why Lexus was conceived. Or why Corvette offers incomparable value for money.