VW May Be Cutting Most of Golf Lineup in US

Totally makes sense especially as they focus on offering EV's, then replace those models with a superior EV.

the current gti occupies the middle of some hellish venn diagram of basicness where its fanbase is split between vape-bros, urban professionals and hot to trot yoga chicks, and now I see gti’s everywhere. 

  On 5/3/2019 at 11:50 PM, FAPTurbo said:

the current gti occupies the middle of some hellish venn diagram of basicness where its fanbase is split between vape-bros, urban professionals and hot to trot yoga chicks, and now I see gti’s everywhere. 

Expand  

In Montreal, GTIs are still a young guy's fast and the furious dream.  Many millennial boys and men drive these. There are even some  car gals that drive them as well. And yes, I am talking about the current gen. And yes, there are car gals to speak of in Montreal.  Kinda cool if you ask me. 

The new Civic Si also follows this same path.  Toyobarus too. 

  On 5/3/2019 at 11:55 PM, oldshurst442 said:

In Montreal, GTIs are still a young guy's fast and the furious dream.  Many millennial boys and men drive these. There are even some  car gals that drive them as well. And yes, I am talking about the current gen. And yes, there are car gals to speak of in Montreal.  Kinda cool if you ask me. 

The new Civic Si also follows this same path.  Toyobarus too. 

Expand  

GTIs also appeal to older enthusiasts as well... a buddy of mine in Denver after 20+ years of Jettas, just bought a Golf R.  he's 52.  He and his wife have a Q7 for family hauler duty also. 

  On 5/4/2019 at 1:04 AM, Robert Hall said:

GTIs also appeal to older enthusiasts as well... a buddy of mine in Denver after 20+ years of Jettas, just bought a Golf R.  he's 52.  He and his wife have a Q7 for family hauler duty also. 

Expand  

That Golf R is one heck of a performer. Its got all the characteristics  a car enthusiast craves for. 

A similar thing I see in Montreal,  many 50 year old males drive Audi A3s. 

It is not that much of a drop from 6642 per year base Golfs that generate a profit down to (grabbing calculator) about 2500 cars per year that lose $3k per unit (projection for the ID hatchback found elsewhere).  It's a win-win situation for Volkswagen.  What could go wrong.

On the other side of the coin, with the demise of the Beetle and the base Golf (which has been all 4-door for a few years), maybe VW will start selling 2-door GTI in America again.

EDIT:  Just 776 e-Golfs were sold in the first half of the year in the U.S.   <== 2018.  Sorry, my "2500 cars per year" guess on ID hatch sales seems too optimistic.  Imagine that.

The one I don't get is cancelling the long roof version. 

  On 5/4/2019 at 12:46 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

The one I don't get is cancelling the long roof version. 

Expand  

Could easily be switched back to "Jetta Sportwagen" by peeling off the taped-on badges and replacing them.

  On 5/4/2019 at 1:45 PM, ocnblu said:

Could easily be switched back to "Jetta Sportwagen" by peeling off the taped-on badges and replacing them.

Expand  

I guess that's true. But from the spy shots, the golf looks to have a very different face from the new Jetta.

Not sure how divergent they'll be going forward.  They could also just call it the VW Sportwagen, or the VW Alltrac, if the new one is based on a divergent Golf.

  On 5/4/2019 at 1:45 PM, ocnblu said:

Could easily be switched back to "Jetta Sportwagen" by peeling off the taped-on badges and replacing them.

Expand  

Cool, Jetta Sportwagen EV! I like it!

  On 5/3/2019 at 11:50 PM, FAPTurbo said:

the current gti occupies the middle of some hellish venn diagram of basicness where its fanbase is split between vape-bros, urban professionals and hot to trot yoga chicks, and now I see gti’s everywhere. 

Expand  

As a Mk7 GTI owner up until just a month ago, I really have to laugh at this and appreciate it's truthfulness. ?

As for the topic, this is a stupid decision. As with most of VW's problems, they only have themselves to blame here.

The Golf doesn't sell for 2 reasons- there's almost never incentives- they lease like crap; and they have constantly decontented thim and slashed trim models.

Point one- A standard Golf lease with no money down or lease specials will run almost $400 a month after taxes. I've seen it too many times. Know what a Civic or Corolla with the same terms will lease for? $275-300. For what is such a cost conscious and frugal market, you can't compete if your car is $100-150 more a month to own.

Point two- When they had a full a model spread, and were doing models like the Special Edition in 2016, they had fair amount of demand. But ever since the Mk7 came out, they have taken away equipment/features every year, cancelled trims, and generally made the car look worse, and a worse value.

If they sold a Wolfsburg model with a bit more power (not GTI levels), some nicer equipment, and a better appearance, it'd have sold. Or an R Line model like other markets get. They should have made AWD an option. There's plenty they could have done. 

What's really stupid is that they are doing this at a time when numerous other brands are finding a business case for hatchbacks, and they are so established already. On top of that, they aren't bringing the the I.D. Hatchback here, so there is no replacement, they have no sub-Golf hatchbacks that could capture those buyers, and a compact crossover for the American market is still realistically 2 years away.

They can try to spin this however they want with sales trends, skewed data, market monitoring; or like everything else, blame it on Millenials all they want, but in the end, this is a textbook example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. VW can thank themselves, and only themselves for the Golf's performance in our market.

True.