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I think you have that backward. Volkswagen is regarded as considerably more up-market in Europe than it is in North America, a situation that has confounded VW for decades. The fact that they tried to sell us the Phaeton is a great illustration of Volkswagen's disconnect between how they want to be perceived in this market versus how they are actually perceived here. Having given up on the idea that Americans will come to think of Volkswagen as a premium brand, they stopped selling the Phaeton here and dumbed down the North American Jetta so it would be competitively priced against its segment competitors.
The Phaeton is not successful in Europe, either. Same problem, people who want a luxury car don't buy VW. The Phaeton looks like a bloated Passat, people who want to brag about their wealth don't want to drive a car that can be confused with a boring standard car.
Mercedes recently had to close its luxury division Maybach.
Maybe such wasteful luxury cars are gradually dying out, would be a good development, frankly.
It's as simple as that. Germans could close plants and move production to other nations just like we do. But they aren't dirtbag corporatists like we have here. They've found a way to make nice profits, provide generous benefits to their employees, pay their taxes, and keep a clean country filled with happy long term employees. They also look beyond the next quarter's profit sheets.
That's the kind of stuff that makes American CEO's heads explode.
There is a BMW plant in Spartanburg,SC and a Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa Alabama. Just saying....
To assert that ANY major car manufacturer doesn't build in other countries just shows a complete lack of understanding of the automotive industry and business in general...
They make BMW's in South Carolina. Not all of them, but plenty of them. So for me, buying a BMW would be equivalent to buying local.
For decades, Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler never saw fit to open a manufacturing plant in South Carolina. When BMW came to South Carolina in the 90's, the big 3's unions went so far as to protest. They called South Carolinians lots of nasty names, "third world", et cetera.
So for me I don't have an ounce of patriotism when I buy cars, because I have grown to dislike the Big 3, their unions, their management, and their products. The "dirtbags" in my mind are the U.S. automakers. But the other point I was making is that the Germans do, in fact, outsource and offshore their operations to cheaper, lower-wage locations.
The Big 3 and many other large manufacturers wanted to produce in the south for years, i'm sure. Many, many moons ago...no doubt about it. But if they were to have opened a plant in lets say....1950, don't you think that would've presented a little problem? We're talking about South Carolina here. I don't think i have to go any further with that point because you know EXACTLY what i'm talking about.
Moving on, when i bring up the Patriotism angle, i'm not talking about the consumer, although German consumers do take that into consideration when buying an automobile. I'm talking about the management....the corporatists.
And once again for the 500 billionth time....i never said that they don't outsource and offshore. I said that they aren't interested in closing plants in their own country only to open them in cheaper locations. They do however outsource many of their newer products to cheaper locations. Germans see their foreign manufacturing as an addendum to and not a replacement for their domestic manufacturing.
Are there a few exceptions? I'm sure. But it's an exception, not the norm.
There is a BMW plant in Spartanburg,SC and a Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa Alabama. Just saying....
To assert that ANY major car manufacturer doesn't build in other countries just shows a complete lack of understanding of the automotive industry and business in general...
Another one that didn't read more than one page of the thread.......
Find where i said that they don't build in other countries. Geezus.
a highly disciplined and motivated work force utterly disinterested in their chosen profession or fulfilling their dream. a group of people not suffering from an inflated sense of self worth.
The Phaeton is not successful in Europe, either. Same problem, people who want a luxury car don't buy VW. The Phaeton looks like a bloated Passat, people who want to brag about their wealth don't want to drive a car that can be confused with a boring standard car.
Mercedes recently had to close its luxury division Maybach.
Maybe such wasteful luxury cars are gradually dying out, would be a good development, frankly.
An $80,000 car only has to sell a few thousand copies a year to be considered "successful." By that standard the Phaeton is successful enough that they're still on sale in Europe whereas they pulled the plug on N.A. sales years ago.
In Europe, VW's brand image seems positioned somewhere between workaday Fords, Opels/Vauxhalls, Renaults, Nissans, etc., and true premium brands like MB and BMW. In America, they're considered overengineered Hondas.
Around here a Subaru is acalled a vermont caddilac.All the retrired dykes drive em.
Here the stoners drive jettas.
Then ya have the ultra liberals driving prius's , staring off into space.
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