Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 19:14:07 -0500
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: microbus is dead NVC
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Its interesting that VW makes a wide variety of other types of cars and
trucks that aren't sold in the US.
In a recent PBS TV Broadcast on China as an emerging industrialized nation
there were statements made that VW held a good share of the auto market by
producing a cheap version of the US and Euro cars that resulted in heavy
pollution of China air.
In general it said that the models sold in China couldn't be sold anywhere
else because of high fuel consumption and high emissions.
China recently just switched to unleaded fuels and most of the cars in China
were designed to run on leaded fuels.
Search out VW T5 sites and you'll find lots of the other models.
Stan Wilder
----- Original Message -----
From: "The Bus Depot" <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 3:21 PM
Subject: Re: microbus is dead NVC
> > Just read online in a German magazine that VW boss pulled the
> > plug on the microbus. Instead they will develop something on the
> > T5 base. The retro look just doesn't sell in Europe, and the US
> > market is not enough to warrant another retro model.
>
>
> Their spin on it, according to the AutoWeek article linked below, is
> that they're not pulling the plug but just delaying it in order to
> redesign it on the T5 platform. The article says that they still plan to
> sell the redesigned version in the U.S. in 2007, apparantly badged as a
> Microbus. This may be good news if it really results in a much lower
> price. I'd rather see an affordable VW van in the States again than a
> failed, overpriced retro attempt.
>
> A lot will depend on how strong the Dollar is by 2007. I think this is
> what VW is waiting to see as well. As I recall, VW had expected the New
> Microbus to be around $45k based on the dollar's value a year or two
> ago. Now the dollar is even more worthless than it was then. I'll bet
> that if they had continued with their existing plans they'd have had a
> $50-$60k van on their hands. I sure wouldn't have bought one for that
> kind of money.
>
> <http://autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carnews&
> loc_code=index&content_code=09674775>
>
> - Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> www.busdepot.com
> (215) 234-VWVW
>
> _____________________________________________
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