Volkswagen's Sales Drop 17.5%

Justin Berkowitz
by Justin Berkowitz

Where’s the news? VW’s sales were down from 16,556 to 13,660 from February ’08 to February ’09, a decline of 17.5%. Models like the Rabbit (Golf with a stupid engine) and Passat were down significantly, while VW’s supremely important Jetta model fell from 6823 last February to 5199 this past month. This was offset a bit by an additional 784 units of the Jetta wagon, which wasn’t on sale last February. Some red meat if you’re into that sort of thing: the R32 (which I’ve never been wild about) dropped from 449 cars last February to a paltry 85 this February, a decline of 81%. VW has had a number of new models introduced in the past 12 months, like the Tiguan, Routan, CC, and the aforementioned Jetta wagon which have helped to offset the decline in other areas. Or just flat out stole sales from their siblings. Stay tuned for an upcoming editorial about VW’s models and marketing in the US, which I believe has been infected by the dangerous Genmotovirus.

Justin Berkowitz
Justin Berkowitz

Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.

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  • HD1974 HD1974 on Mar 03, 2009

    VW is as lost as a duck in a parking lot. They've never quite gotten used to the fact that they're NOT a luxury marque and that charging those stupid prices for cars that are famous for their unreliability is not a good tactic. Then... what's with the stupid names?! Routan? Tiguan? Next up! Crap-an! Rebadging a Chrysler wasn't their finest hour either. And I've heard horror stories about their dealer service. My boss - he's German by the way - has a Passat with less than 40K miles. A couple of weeks ago he dropped about $1000 in maintenance and when he pointed out some pieces falling off they told him *you haven't been keeping it properly* and *they all do that*. And finally... my pet peeve are daytime running lights. VW is a big proponent of them. One more reason why I bought an Altima and not a Passat.

  • Johnny ro Johnny ro on Mar 03, 2009

    I want the 2.0 CC. Its kind of like getting a slightly decontented A4 for $5k less. 6 speed manual is the base car. The shift lever is positioned where you would want it. Its as if VW designers like driving and like manuals and the corporates dont stop them. Cant possibly imagine why anyone would go for the v6 though. Priced way way too high. AWD, so what on that car. The 2.5 is an embarassment to Americans. Like going out to dinner abroad and having waiter spot you as a yank and asking if you need your diapers changed before dinner and how many big macs you would like on your plate and apologizing that they only have real beer....

  • FromBrazil FromBrazil on Mar 03, 2009

    @Justin Berkowtiz "Strong in Brazil" meh NOt really. They'll have a strong 1st quarter down here as their new gol catches more sales, but soon the novelty factor will wear off and then Fiat will come out with their new Palio and kill those guys. Stupid pricing, arrogance, cars having problems, all of them are contributing to VW's ever falling market share down here. My prediction: They'll finish this year even farther behind Fiat than last year.

  • Rx8totheendoftime Rx8totheendoftime on Mar 05, 2009

    "chuckgoolsbee : March 3rd, 2009 at 5:56 pm rx8totheendoftime, do yourself a favor and buy a shop manual, bookmark tdiclub.com, find a buddy who knows how to turn a wrench and owns a VAG-COM." I already have the manual and the bookmark...not convinced about the wrench with respect to the radio (it is intermittent and now 'fixed' and I have not taken it to the dealer). Until the rx-8 - which lasted 6 months - I was an appliance(Toyota) driver. Post-rx-8 came a BMW 5 and 3, then a TL and the TDI...compromise=spouse, I have found. I did know what I was getting into with VW. I am taking a beginner's auto maintenance course (not having touched a wrench in many years) and will do the first oil change around September. As the man who jumped off a 10 storey building said to the people who asked how he was doing on the way down, "So far, so good"...

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