Volkswagen To Build Golf In Mexico For North American Market
North American insufferable Volkswagen d-bags fans who proudly reject Mexican made Jettas in favor of German-assembled Golfs will be crying in their beers over news that North American made versions of the MK7 Golf will be built south of the border.
By building Golfs at VW’s Puebla plant, the auto maker can rely on additional capacity to supplement their German plants, which are running at full tilt to produce the latest Golf. Mexico is also a convenient location for Volkswagen to help grow sales of the Golf, as part of its plan for 800,000 sales in the U.S.
Jonathan Browning, head of Volkswagen’s North American arm, said in a statement that the company was looking to build 75 percent of the cars it sells in North America. Production of the Golf should begin at Puebla in Q1 2014.
The question in my mind is this; previously, the Golf was positioned as a more upscale small car, versus the volume oriented Jetta. Now that both Mexican production and the MQB platform can provide significant cost and exchange rate savings, will the Golf still occupy this slot, or can we expect a pricing strategy more akin to the Jetta, with a couple decontented base trim levels to get buyers in the door?
More by Derek Kreindler
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I think it's funny when people brag about their new VW and confuse "german-engineered" with "made in germany". Finding out that it's actually made south of the border next to a pinata factory takes the wind out of those sails pretty quick! Skilled labor DOES MATTER when you're talking about the single most complicated thing most people will ever purchase.
My 2011 Jetta Sportswagon TDI is made in Mexico and in 15 months and 50,000 miles no issues at all, not sure if that is because of where it is made or how it was designed and really I do not care one way or the other as long as it stays that way.
Golfs built in Mexico. I'd be interested in shopping for one if the base price came in at under $16,000. I hate that the Golf is over contented and over-priced. I'd take a solid beam axle, hard plastics, 15" steel wheels, and the 2.0 8-valver any day. I hate the 5-cylinder 2.5 engine. Hopefully we get the 1.4 turbo or at least a base 4 cylinder model. I wish they decontented the Beetle, too. It's too heavy.
And the big reason Mexico makes sense for plant: Mexico has free trade with the EU and can export cars there without the 10% duty that gets slapped on US cars. If the US were in the same position, it would have been far more attractive to put that plant in the States. The US has big advantage in transport, and supplier base and security and rule of law. But a 10% duty is more than enough to cancel that out. And the sad thing is, the more plants get built in Mexico, the more the supplier base and the transport networks get built out, the less Mexico's disadvantage is. Someday soon, locating in Mexico will be nearly as good a decision as the States.