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Date:         Mon, 4 Feb 2008 21:22:20 -0800
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Nice Video on the Cancelled MicroBus
Comments: To: william thompson <thecraftedcow@COMCAST.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <038801c8679e$f45bcdd0$25a6734c@homelrmqqm1lky>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Oh william, this is great ! Not sure if everyone can read your japaenese but I can. Bring your own KY - !! too much !

Need to remember that the US market is not VWs biggest target, just one small part of their overall picture. Not smart of them, for sure, to not take better care of this market. ( porsche for example, I have read, sells, or sold, more Porsches in California than in germany - so you can bet they pay very close attention to what works here for them. And they have wisely not strayed to far from what they do - sports cars, tho I think they are doing all right with their Cayenne SUV. )

but vw...........they could do better here than they do. I suspect that the started importing cars here because it was easy, then found sales success after a number of years and kept going, but never really seized the opportunity to really shine in the US. Like you know.........they could do better with parts for older vw's like vanagons for example. They consistently display that US loyalty isn't important to them. Sending lawyers after companies for using 'volks' in their name - dumb and a waste of money and a customer relations 'screw you.' Car companies are forever stuck between expanding their line up to be a bigger presence and sell more cars and make more money, or stay doing what they do best, and perhaps languish. . Look how well porsche has done just doing what they do best, sports cars and racing for all these years. The 911 is an early 60's design, came out in 64 and if not that 1965 and they are STILL developing and selling that car ! It's the longest run of any type car there is I think. Over 40 years. And they have to be careful that their two other sports models don't surpass the Mighty 911. And they did get adrift with the 928........... A front engine water cooled car., at a time when that's not what they did best........ So often 'trying to do it all' works against a company. VW's big debacle of late was the Phaeton luxo-barge. Everybody said VW does not do 60 to 90,000 dollar cars, yet the director insisted and it probably cost them several billion dollars.

If vw stuck with what they do good, didn't try to be someone they are not, made customer service a major top priority, and customer relations a top priority ..........that's one thing Lexus did as soon as the started - the dealerships were like palaces and they treat customers like royalty - VW is arrogant in comparison. It's lucky they do as well as they do. All that good will they built up in the hippy era............is still carrying them some. They do have a few good new products ...........tdi's and jettas and that sort of thing....but it sure does not look to me like they treasure customer loyalty all that much at all. Maybe it's been done, maybe several times, but I sure would like to see a massive email or letter writing campaign to VW of American and VW in Germany that basically says........... 'hey, look we LOVE our VW's ............but you guys are blowing it. We are going to be forced to give up if you don't pay more attention to real customer satisfaction and treating us like you care. Heck, we can even forgive that your products let us down sometimes, but show us that you care, and treat us right. You have an extremely loyal following, and if you just really worked at it, you could really do something in this market." .............something like that. And about 20,000 letters at least. Somebody could look up the JD Powers or consumer reports customer satisfaction surveys to see how vw rates. That's all for newer cars, which is a whole other world compared to older used car, and I suppose there's not a lot of money in older car parts for them............and YET.........if they were smart, and really took care of people that owned older vw's and had good products that were good in the showrooms people would be happy to buy those just cause the love the brand so much. I swear, they have brand loyalty all out of proportion to how they treat their followers. Kombonwa, Scott www.turbovans.com

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of william thompson Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 6:30 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Nice Video on the Cancelled MicroBus

With VW's present attitude re customer service (requiring you to bring your own KY) I would not buy ANY product they tried to offer. VW can go the way of the Hudson, Kaiser,DeSoto, Plymouth,Crosley and many others. Learn to say Ohia gazaimas and Con nichiwa! VW is too little ,too late. For those who enjoy being miserable, I have three horse whips so youall may take turns beating yourself or having someone else do it. To add to the enjoyment of the misery, we could even charge to use the equipment. ----- Original Message ----- From: "BJ Feddish" <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 4:49 PM Subject: Re: Nice Video on the Cancelled MicroBus

> The first problem with that new MicroBus was VW said they could not built > it > for less than $35K back in '01. That's probably closer to 40K+ now at > least. > Second, it was only the US that showed enthusiasm for it, Europe, which > has > plenty of VW models to choose from, showed no interest. On top of all > that, > if you look really close at that thing it's pretty darn small. The back > seats are against the rear window. There is no storage space in there. > > As "cute" as it is I don't think I would have ran out and bought one. > > Bryan


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