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VW looking at going upmarket into Premium segment.


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you have to wonder if VW themselves know what on earth is going on at the moment.

they have so many brands and models but they all use the same parts - just different designers and marketing.

Wondering if the world is a bit overloaded in the VW department ?

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Ah yes. About 4 Phaetons a year and, if they're lucky, they should sell about 3 Passat R36s.

So VW's got the premium and the mid-size sports market cracked... ROLLEY~14.GIF

Wake up Mr Winterkorn, and stick to what VW does well, and figure out how to reduce your costs, not how to go after yet another market NONO3.GIF

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I'd have to agree. VW has the upper middle ground in the bag but 'Premium' erm no and it would cost them a fortune to get it there.

They need to concentrate on making lighter easier to build cars that still have a quality feel. VW are very poor at how they design their cars the latest might be great to sit in but its not making VW any big money at all, which is a bit fundermental.

But what is going to happen to Audi ... are they going to go up another level. I for one don't want to spend the extra on spec that should be standard as prices are also drifting up but the money in my pocket isn't. crazy.gif

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It's a shame the Phaeton hasn't caught on because it's a brilliant looking car and the interior/engineering is just something else. You got to feel sorry for VW though. Some will say "Oh a Golf or Passat is far too overpriced compared to a Focus or Mondeo", then you'll get people who will think "The Phaeton is too 'cheap' compared to an A8"

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The portion about the golf facelift being delayed - I think it was pretty obvious that once The Japanese makers have styling cracked then the German brands are in trouble - VW can no longer boast reliability given the entire brand is poor compared to some far 'cheaper' brands.

I think as said above VW need to concentrate on doing what they were about - building a car that feels solid and reliable and 'german'......

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Hi, sending the VW brand upmarket doesn't seem to make sense when they already have Audi doing just that for them.

VW have never dominated the market with anything but their core car - first Beetle, then Golf. None of their other cars have really taken on the competion sucessfully.

I thought that VAG as a group had some fairly strong identities, but they seem to be intent on confusing the boundaries between them:

- VW's identity is pretty strong, so don't weaken it.

- Audi is VAG's premium brand, build on that

- Skoda should be the budget quality, reliable brand, don't confuse it with overlapping sports models

- SEAT's been moved from its original budget position into a young/sporting segment (at least in the UK) but it's struggling a bit with that and maybe is taking sales from VW.

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VW group as a whole has no idea what there doing really imho I have thought this since the late 90s.

The different brands have for MANY decades now stepped on each others toes all the time. They rival each other rather than sperate the brands into different market segments.

The cheaper brands who had less image like Skoda and SEAT have crept up in price and quality so that ALL the brands are now compete for the same customer.

All the VW groups brands prices have risen above there main competitors in the market.

In Buisness terms all this is suicide.

This IMHO is were VW could actually learn a hell of alot from the FIAT group for a change, they have defined segments for each of there brand names to be in and they don't trip over each other or have direct rivals to there own different brands.

For the companies sake znaika.gif seperate the brands into different market segments and price points....... FIREdevil.gif

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[ QUOTE ]

ALL the brands are now compete for the same customer.

All the VW groups brands prices have risen above there main competitors in the market.

[/ QUOTE ]

And given all of them also feature fairly poorly in the JD power type surveys suggests that the price no longer has justifiation.

Who would want to invest in a High end VW knowing how badly they feature in dealer service, customer service, etc,etc

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They have never done well in surveys since the early 90s.

IMO It's all down to the image of the brand they built up for the VW badge in the 80s/90s that they are still living off. Imo they can only push this so far and upto a certain level/price point my own view is its actually past that point now.

The main problem i see as a business is there confusion of what all there brands are suppose to be doing and represent. Its a complete shambles as a business.

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[ QUOTE ]

Who would want to invest in a High end VW knowing how badly they feature in dealer service, customer service, etc,etc

[/ QUOTE ]

it's fine if you completely remove the car from dealer exposure 169144-ok.gif actually when the dealer does see the car they are very receptive - been very good at fixing rattles-only beerchug.gif

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They are doing poorly in reliability surveys that don't even ask opinion such as the warranty one shown recently.

Japanese manufactures take the top 7 postions with a Korean manufacture taking the next spot.

Each new car is bigger, more expensive and with less standard kit that before. And its us the mugs that stand for it because we want the 'Brand' image.

No wonder I'm looking at all the options for next time. 169144-ok.gif

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