Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 23:09:53 -0400
Reply-To: shawn feller <feller@CARBONCOW.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: shawn feller <feller@CARBONCOW.COM>
Subject: Re: FRYDAY: RE-OPEN VANAGON ASSEMBLY
In-Reply-To: <20060527010425.1992.qmail@web51512.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
So using your allegory we just get the "old school" Vanagon shell but a
completely updated technology inside?
Just because a couple thousand kooks like us like them that is still to
small a number of interest for economic feasibility...additionally the
majority of the people still think they are ugly (but in a cute way)....
In a perfect world I would prefer an affordable Eurovan EVC with a VR6 and
syncro in the US (someone has it in Europe I'm sure!)...but wait...Vanagon
owners thing Eurovan are ugly...they failed due to a high price and VOA
inability to determine if it really wanted to sell and market them in the
USA...while it tried to understand the minivan boom at the time of
introduction.
Small RV are not popular in the USA IMHO because Americans want big,
powerful and fast (and cheap). It's in our culture due to the expansiveness
of our country. We are a minority by far.
Petition all you want but I think you are preaching to a small congregation
of zealots of antiquated but characterful vehicle.
Shawn
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Anthony Egeln
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 9:04 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: FRYDAY: RE-OPEN VANAGON ASSEMBLY
Since it’s Fryday I thought I’d open a thread I’ve wanted to open for a
long time. What does everyone think about VW re-opening the vanagon
assembly line? Is there any impediment to building new vanagons? It
shouldn’t be a chore for VW to open an assembly line somewhere in the world.
The only major weakness in the original was the power plant and I’m certain
that VW could quickly engineer in a new TDI diesel or inline gas engine.
All the rest could be the same…well maybe new lighting. We should all agree
that the reason that we persevere with our 15-27 year old vans is because
they are so much fun and terribly useful. VW should take notice of the
resale value of the vanagon. When 20 year old vans sell for $10-30K, it
seems to me that there is a market out there. What would you pay for a new
vanagon, complete with the configuration you want?
I think a good allegory to this might be found in the Lockheed C-130
aircraft. It was first designed and flown in the 1950’s, and today, 50
years later, new C-130s continue to roll off the assembly line. They have
new engines and electronics but it is the same airframe. If it works…why
change it?
I guess the bottom line is this. If you went out today to buy a new
vehicle, one that could do everything your vanagon or syncro or Westy can
do…what would you buy? I can’t think of one. Only the Sprinter is even
close in utility but there’s no 4WD, or Westy. I called my local Mercedes
dealer and asked the salesman about future availability of the Sprinter
James Cook camper here and he said that there was no market for it here.
The low end van type RV market is owned by GM and the high end folks buy a
full RV. I don’t see why a new vanagon couldn’t take sufficient market
share from GM to make it profitable. The Eurovan (T4) didn’t make it here,
but to paraphrase the recently departed Lloyd Bentsen, “I’ve looked at the
Eurovan, sir, and it’s no vanagon!”.
Should we petition VW to open the line?
Cheers, Anthony
'89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
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