Volkswagen Hands North America the Car Keys, Extends Its Curfew

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

More autonomy is coming to North American Volkswagen operations, thanks in part to dealer protests calling for exactly that.

Today, Volkswagen established a new North American Region (NAR) encompassing Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, headed by no-longer-interim Volkswagen Group of America president and CEO Hinrich J. Woebcken (who replaced departing CEO Michael Horn in March).

The move allows North America more flexibility as to the volume of certain models and where they are sold. The automaker’s U.S. dealer network began revolting against their head office last month, accusing top brass of ignoring their pleas for product reassurances in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal.

Brand chief Herbert Diess failed to fully placate dealers at a meet-up earlier this month, especially those looking for reparations, but did commit to boosting production of popular models to stimulate U.S. sales.

By setting up the NAR, Volkswagen lessens the need for decisions to come from across the Atlantic, and allows North American dealers and regional officials to feel more in charge of their own destiny. All regional activities will be aligned through the NAR, including product development, procurement and production.

“The establishment of the North American Region provides the U.S., Mexico and Canada more freedom and more responsibility than ever before,” Diess said in a statement.

The NAR will operate with a board structure, with Woebcken at the helm.

“With the new structure of the North American Region we will be empowered to make the decisions to bring the vehicles that the consumers in the market are demanding,” stated Woebcken, adding that when a region calls for more strong-selling product, they’ll get it.

Back at home, Diess is still facing opposition from organized labor over a cost-saving efficiency plan and ongoing rumors of layoffs.

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Stodge Stodge on Apr 16, 2016

    What's the point? VW's model lineup is antiquated and unappealing anyway. They need newer models more than anything.

    • See 2 previous
    • W205LVR W205LVR on Apr 29, 2016

      @derekson If VW would sell a passat similar to the Euro spec one here, they would sell like hot cakes. However, VW needs to step up their game with customer service and vehicle dependability. Those 2 factors have put a damper in their sales. They need to do what Kia and Hyundai do and improve the quality of the vehicles and offer the best warranties on the market.

  • Corollaman Corollaman on Apr 17, 2016

    Maybe now we can get the Polo or Up stateside

    • JustPassinThru JustPassinThru on Apr 17, 2016

      Sure. The iQ and Fiatsler 500 are doing so well. Even the Yaris, is only holding on. I HAD one, when my commute was 70 miles, round-trip. Great car for the purpose. But when the time came to sell, change of circumstance, ZERO interest. This, with a Toyota - the benchmark of resale value. Americans don't like small cars. Nor Europeans, either - but they are forced into them with taxes and other government intrusions.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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