Date:         Mon, 04 Mar 1996 07:00:56 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         RGOLEN@umassd.edu
Subject:      Re: I heard a 'nasty' rumor!

Jim writes:
>Eurovans are just trying to keep up with the Jone's


Get a Clue! The T4 has sold over 1 million units world wide. It is readily 
apparant that the US is no longer VW's major van (or hell...car for that 
matter) market. The T4 is the number one selling van of its type in Europe.

Your original posting mentioned putting the 16v engine in the VanaGONE. What 
do you know (or the rumor mongers for that matter) about the engine line up 
in Europe for the T4? Here's the latest list:

2.0L 4cyl gas - 84 hp 	Max Torque 159Nm 2200rpm
2.5L 5cyl gas  110 hp	Max Torque 190Nm 2200rpm
1.9L Diesel     61hp    Max Torque 127Nm 2000rpm
1.9L TurboDiesel68hp    Max Torque 140Nm 2500rpm
2.4 5cyl Diesel 78hp    Max Torque 164Nm 2200rpm

Notice a pattern here? The engines are designed to deliver maximum torque at 
low rpms?? The 16v 2.0L engine delivers 168Nm of Torque at 4600 
rpm...useless for a van-type vehicle.

The EV was NOT designed for the US market...it was designed for the WORLD 
market. People bitch and moan that the price is too high. Having spent a 
fair amount of time in Europe visiting dealers, collecting brochures, etc., 
the EV versions which are sent to the US are CHEAPER than their European 
counterparts, even when one factors out things like VAT (value added tax). 

Another little factoid...did you know that the fully equipped Sharan costs 
MORE in France (and probably in the other EC markets) than a fully equipped 
EV?

Why? Well this goes to the heart of the matter. VW has the lowest 
productivity per worker than any European car maker. It also has the lowest 
net return on sales. In addition, German automakers now have the the 
distinction of having the highest paid assembly line workers in the world 
(when one factors in things like vacation time, etc.) VWs costs are high, 
and so therefore are its prices.

Given the fact that VW is having financial difficulty, does retooling a 
plant to re-make an obsolete model make sense to you? Especially since VW 
spent over $200million in the design and factory retooling for the T4? And 
given that VW has no problem selling its vans anywhere in the world except 
here?

Face it, the Vanagon in the US was no sales miracle either. VW van sales 
started to slide in the mid-70s even before the Chrysler $hitboxes were even 
on the drawing boards. The vanagon was dropped because it was (as all rear 
engined mainstream vehicles) too expensive to produce. For example it now 
takes one major assembly function to mount front suspension, engine, 
steering, transmission, cooling AND front heating system in the T4...where
the T3 needed at least 3 separate steps.

The Vanagon was also dropped because of its "wasser-boxer". Even by VWs own
admission, the Wasserboxer was an intermediate engine. It bought VW time so 
it could design a PROPER watercooled product, get the public used to a 
watercooled van (VW did that with the Passat/Dasher in its passenger cars), 
etc. 

Oh well, I guess I could go on, but its time for coffee.....

Ric