Post by Kasey Kagawa

VW has long been an enthusiast’s darling, with several classic models under their belt like the Beetle, GTI, Sirocco and Corrado. Unfortunately, even with their new models winning awards left and right, VW is still battling against public perception that their cars are slow and unreliable. As a result, even since the New Beetle boom wore off in 2003, sales have continually been on a downward trend, from 338,000 sold in 2002 to 235,000 in 2006. The failure of their ad campaigns to move the new Jetta, Passat, Golf and GTI models has only added to the pressure. VW CEO Martin Winterkorn has said that the turnaround is “their number one priority”. Ominous rumblings are coming out of the company, however. A company insider is quoted in the Business Week article as saying, “For the first time in some time, the phrase If we are to stay in the U.S.’ precedes a lot of conversations at VW.” Bad vibes.

Can VW Finally Find Its Way In America? [Business Week]