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April 17, 2009 5:59 p.m. ignorant SuperDork

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/17/global-dominance-shift-vw-may-have-sold-more-th...

Over the last several years, few automotive stories have held as much interest as the global fight between Toyota and General Motors for worldwide sales supremacy. Don't look now, but there's a new combatant hailing from Germany ready to take the reigns: Volkswagen. However, VW's ascendancy has less to do with the German automaker's output -- GM and Toyota are shedding sales at a much faster rate than VW.

Interesting..
April 17, 2009 8:51 p.m. Keith SuperDork

VW has been #1 in Europe before, if they're not currently. It's not the US, but it's still a pretty big market.
April 17, 2009 10:57 p.m. friedgreencorrado Reader

Just imagine how well VW would have done if the idiot US dealer network had been selling Polos all this time..I'm not the only guy that's been driving his A2 for twenty years waiting for a "proper" replacement. It's not just the enthusiasts, either. The civillians I see running around in stock Jettas mention they'd like to buy another VW, but the new ones are "too big".
April 18, 2009 12:05 a.m. gamby SuperDork

I'm guessing the Scirroco would be worth a solid 20k units here last year.

The Polo would have been a massive success.
April 18, 2009 8:44 a.m. vdubinsd New Reader

you would think the scirocco would be good, but it woud cost $30k+ and no one would buy it...just like the new R32 or the phaeton or going way back the corrado (I love em, but they didnt set the world on fire with sales when new admit it)

less expensive fun to drive cars is where vw "could" kill it their diesels will help, they kick ass!
April 18, 2009 10:38 a.m. suprf1y Reader

gamby wrote:

The Polo would have been a massive success.

Probably a mild success, for about a year while gas was expensive. Then you couldn't give them away.
April 18, 2009 10:48 a.m. gamby SuperDork

suprf1y wrote:

gamby wrote:

The Polo would have been a massive success.

Probably a mild success, for about a year while gas was expensive. Then you couldn't give them away.

I'm going by the idea that Honda Fits are still selling very strongly. In this economy, cheap cars are a very viable product.
April 18, 2009 4:34 p.m. eddieleephd New Reader

Wait for SAAB and AUDI From what I have heard SAAB is an excelent handling vehicle and have heard no complaints on AUDI either!
April 18, 2009 5:31 p.m. DirtyBird222 Dork

I know an assortment of people who come to think of VW as an unreliable, lacking in quality, smelling like crayons, German turd.

Low maintenance and low maintenance costs are two things you can't associate with newer Vdubs so I highly doubt the Polo would have been a huge success. The Fit is particularly popular because (no particular order either) 1) It's a small econo-box 2) It's fairly cheap 3) it's versatile and 4) Honda's brand rep/image as a reliable, in-expensive car to maintain is stuck in a lot of peoples minds, even if they have never owned or driven a Honda before.....I cannot say the same about VWs since their transition to water-cooled engines. Plus theres that whole "image" or "idea" of being an elitist, sophisticated, smug euro trash, etc that some people imagine about people who drive VWs that might drive it away....they really need to work on their image here in the states if they want to sell more IMO.
April 18, 2009 8:33 p.m. MitchellC HalfDork

In the US at least, VW doesn't really cater to the y-chromosome.