Volkswagen Golf All-Wheel Drive Heavily Considered to Take On Subaru

by Mark Stevenson

Published: September 12th, 2016

volkswagen golf all wheel drive heavily considered to take on subaru

Volkswagen is heavily considering adding an all-wheel-drive variant of the Golf hatchback to its North American lineup, TTAC learned during the media launch for the all-new Volkswagen Alltrack, itself an all-wheel-drive version of the Volkswagen Golf SportWagen.

Dr. Hendrik Muth, vice-president of product marketing and strategy, explained the addition of 4Motion production to Volkswagen’s Puebla manufacturing facility in Mexico has opened up more possibilities, including the addition of all-wheel drive to the standard Golf hatchback.

“All-wheel drive is now part of the Volkswagen DNA,” Muth said at the Alltrack launch event. When asked if an all-wheel drive version of the Golf is being considered above all other possibilities, Muth answered in the affirmative: “Yes.”

Volkswagen’s focus on all-wheel drive is aimed directly at Subaru, which has been incredibly successful at promoting all-wheel drive across its lineup. Subaru currently has the lowest incentive spend per sale in the industry.

Volkswagen’s newest all-wheel-drive model, the Alltrack, will launch in October.

[Image: Volkswagen]

#AllWheelDrive #AWD #Golf #Volkswagen #VolkswagenGolf

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ThirdOwner on Sep 13, 2016

I've owned Golf II and Golf III. If VW still built them with the same mindset they'd keep me coming back. But anything they presently build feels unnecessarily brittle and complicated. Maybe it's just my perception, but they don't look like the same cars to me. Subaru on the other hand have been doing what Porsche had been constantly praised for - iteratively improving upon their core concept - but rarely getting credit for that in the same way. They have received the implicit credit though, in the form of their sales growth. The current generation Outback is currently in my top-three 'next vehicle' list, and probably at number one if I only consider the needs vs wants. They seem to have finally sorted out their engine issues. I'll gladly keep topping off the oil if that's the only problem remaining. I've owned used Land Rovers, didn't bother me much.

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05lgt on Sep 13, 2016

Does anyone think VW will be able to match Subaru on price/size category? Golf fits against Impreza, and the media will promptly test an AWD Golf against a (likely price competitive) manual WRX with predictable results. The fuel economy and oil consumption compromises of the boxer do yield a dynamic advantage from the lowered engine mass. Side by side tests only show the dynamic difference, and no one seems to care about 60k+ oil consumption rates. That's the second owners problem.

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- ThirdOwner on Sep 13, 2016
  
  Second and (ahem) Third owners' problem. But it remains to be seen as the current gen 2.5 from 2010 and on seem to be better going by what the forums say. I don't think VW can match Subaru on price and quality. Subaru has dialed their offering quite well. They cut on the paint quality, but then many Subaru owners don't seem to mind, and they'll have stickers and dog paw scratches all over anyway. Same with the door panel steel thickness - it's not Volvo-thick, but Subaru owners don't seem to mind.
  
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- Gtem on Sep 13, 2016
  
  @ThirdOwner In terms of feature content and more recently interior quality, the value quotient of Subarus is through the roof. Throw in the absurdly good resale and they are very rational choices. I honestly think that Subaru must be operating on some tight margins in interest of undercutting competitors on price and increasing units sold. Looking around at the Subie invasion of the Midwest, I'd say the strategy is working. I'd love to see them relaunch the Tribeca as a true Pilot/Explorer/Pathfinder three row CUV competitor. You know people would be all over that, or maybe an awesome AWD Subaru minivan. Purists bemoaning the legacy wagon morphing into the oversized current Outback would throw a fit on the internet, but you just know that sales would shoot through the roof.
  
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- ThirdOwner on Sep 13, 2016
  
  @gtem > I honestly think that Subaru must be operating on some tight margins in interest of undercutting competitors on price and increasing units sold I have the same feeling. They certainly do seem to run a tight shop, for instance they stamp Outback door panels on site from rolled steel blanks. But even for them things are not going as splendidly as it may appear: they've extended their 0% offer on 2016s, which are still plentiful on the dealers lots in my area.
  
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- Tedward on Sep 14, 2016
  
  @ThirdOwner They definitely improved things, but i'm still massively disappointed by subaru build execution and yes, interior. I really don't place any value on silly vw things like finish under the trunk lid, but I've seen cross treks with overspray on their headlights, which is palm to the forehead stuff. I think their current interior moves have definitely remade the case for their cars though. What you don't get now seems like a completely fair trade off for standard awd. There is no free lunch, especially from a small company like subaru. Again, I like subaru historically, but the idea that they are crushing it product wise is waaaay overblown.
  
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- Gtem on Sep 14, 2016
  
  @ThirdOwner "cross treks with overspray on their headlights, which is palm to the forehead stuff." Must be poor accident repair, I don't see how any manufacturer would be painting a car after headlights are attached on the assembly line. Any input, Tres?
  
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- Tedward on Sep 14, 2016
  
  @ThirdOwner Gtem You'd think so but no, both cars were still wearing their monroneys. I even asked if there was an incident to explain this or if the crosstrek conversion happened in port facilities. Apparently not. I obviously don't see something that bad on every car, but it's not a good thing either way. There's other issues with that car too, such as the orange paint jobs having an incredibly ugly and sloppy transition to grey primer under the hood. The two tone isn't a big deal, but the slop is disappointing. Perhaps they've cleaned that up since.
  
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Pete Zaitcev on Sep 13, 2016

Coincidentially, I saw a Golf R32 on the road today. I can see them selling something like that against WRX and rolling a cheapened version of it to compete against Imprezza. But what are they going to do against Crosstrek (XV)?

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- Tedward on Sep 14, 2016
  
  If they put the all trek springs on a golf and awd they'd have a cross trek competitor. I wouldn't buy that any more than I'd shop a cross trek. I honestly don't think they really care about adding awd to normal golfs to be honest. I think they are trying to use their supplier at (ptobably) contracted volumes while waiting for their mainstream product to switch to mqb. Tiguan and jetta, I'd bet any amount of money that those are the products that vw really wanted haldex in Mexico for. This all seems like busy work while they wait.
  
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Doctorbob on Sep 13, 2016

McKenna VW in Huntington Beach, CA is taking on Subaru as one of the brands it will sell. Essentially it will be a VW/Subaru store. It will interesting to see how they will market the brands.

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