VW to Bring Models to U.S. More Quickly to Lure Consumers
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest automaker, is preparing to bring new and updated models from its namesake brand to the U.S. on a shorter timeframe to meet American demands for revamped products more quickly, reported Bloomberg.
The VW marque will introduce new products every five years, with major refreshes after three years, Michael Horn, head of VW’s U.S. operations, said in an interview. VW currently introduces completely revamped vehicles every seven years, tweaking them after four.
“Customers want quicker change,” Horn said. “We’re working to shorten the life cycle of the products to bring more new features and design elements, in terms of face-lifts, to the market quicker. We believe we have a positive business case. It commercially makes sense that we move.”
The faster pace of introductions, which a management board committee must still sign off on next month, wouldn’t start until 2017 at the earliest, meaning it wouldn’t help much toward the company’s goal of reaching 800,000 VW brand sales in the U.S. by 2018, Horn said. Through April, VW had sold 118,154 vehicles in the country, a 10 percent decline from last year.
While Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen has risen to become the world’s second-largest automaker, the U.S. has remained a riddle, confounding progress in the second-biggest national market that is important to making VW the world’s biggest automaker by 2018.
“VW should speed up product introductions to recover market share,” said Gian Primo Quagliano, head of automotive research company CSP in Bologna, Italy. “VW has the potential to boost sales in the U.S, having an impressive range of models; it just has to be better with the timing of launches.” To reach CEO Martin Winterkorn’s sales goal, Volkswagen would have to almost double U.S. sales from last year’s more than 407,700. Horn called the target a “sporty challenge.”
“It’s an achievable goal, but it’s a stretch,” he said.
A board panel has met every other month since January to discuss the brand’s U.S. strategy, Horn said. The committee includes Winterkorn; Hans Dieter Poetsch, VW’s chief financial officer; Christian Klingler, head of sales and marketing; Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, head of procurement; and Michael Macht, head of production.
About 50 people from Volkswagen’s research, engineering, sales, production and marketing departments attended a two-day summit in Wolfsburg in February to study the challenges and opportunities in the U.S. market, Horn said. The group looked at VW’s product cadence, fleet fuel efficiency and product portfolio.
“The attendance was even much bigger than we originally intended because they want to help,” Horn said. “For the first time we’ve discussed the business case to really shorten our lifecycles here in the U.S. and to be a little bit more dynamic in terms of design changes.”
More Industry

Kia Closes Out Summer With a Bang
Its U.S. subsidiary broke multiple records in August, in part due to a surge of demand for hybrids models.
Read More →
Indiana Dealership Changes Hands
A 30-year-old Ford dealership in Indiana has a new owner and will soon be undergoing renovations to meet manufacturer requirements.
Read More →
Texas Dealership No Longer in the Family
The Ford store, a longtime cornerstone of the Houston market, is now part of one of the fastest-growing U.S. auto groups.
Read More →
Genesis Grows California Presence
The Cardinale Automotive Group opened its third Genesis rooftop in the Golden State, Genesis of San Bruno, a stand-alone dealership serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
Read More →
August Auto Sales a Mixed Bag
An early forecast shows strong business despite consumer hurdles, and hybrids are a big piece of their affordability coping strategy.
Read More →
EV Market Humming Along
July sales show steady growth as the segment stabilizes from last year’s artificial surge following pullback of federal support.
Read More →
Auto Loan Delinquency Rates Stabilize
Auto loans are a main driver of nonmortgage consumer debt, but delinquency rates stabilized in the second quarter across all credit risk tiers.
Read More →
EV Sales Recover in Q2
The EV sales roller coaster continues as numbers show improvement, but industry experts predict a year-over-year third-quarter decline and fourth-quarter jump.
Read More →
The Cheapest Hybrids to Fuel
The powertrain is increasing in popularity, in no small part due to its fuel economy. A new report lists the most efficient hybrids on the market.
Read More →
Hybrids and SUVs Gaining Ground
The most recent Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch found that only two nonluxury brands increased in shopper consideration, buoyed by their hybrid and SUV offerings.
Read More →