Date:         Thu, 25 Aug 94 17:02:31 GMT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         William Warburton <william@festival.ed.ac.uk>
Subject:      Re: Florida lemons

> David wirtes that he did not see very any other "vans" in europe
> other than VW...
> I saw plenty in France, Switz, and Germany this past January...
> Renault Espaces, Ford Transits, even a bunch of Plymouth Voyager
> types from the US. The vans are there...

 In the UK the Espace probably wouldn't be counted as a "van". The "Minivan"
Moniker doesn't apply here- we call Renault Espaces, Toyota Space-Cruisers
and similar vehicles "People carriers" or something equally contrived.

 Vans are bigger & more utilitarian- VW transporter & LT, Renault Trafic &
Master, Mercedes procuce a range of sizes, FIAT Ducato, Bedford/Opel ones,
Mistubishi L300, Toyota HiAce... There are stacks of alternatives. VW happen
to produce one of the best in terms of quality, driveability and reliability,
but it is expensive in comparison to the others.

 VW is more successful in the minibus/executive transport market than most
of the other van manufacturers because of this quality product. They lose out
to Renault and Toyota in the personal transport market because most passenger
car buyers want something smaller than a van and more "carlike" to drive.

 In the camper market they still do quite well, but there is stiff competition
from FIAT, Mercedes and other conversions which are cheaper for what facilities
they provide. Generally these are bigger campers than the VW ones so the
car-like characteristics of the VW would be lost anyway due to the huge body
and do relatively low mileages (second cars) so the quality of the VW is less
of an advantage.

 There are few Winnebago sized campers in Europe as the roads and campsites
are often not appropriate for them.

Cheers,
        W.
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