When you are one of the top three automakers in the world, it only stands to reason that you will be in the news often. This week is a perfect example for the German automaker Volkswagen. Not one, but two, piece of information passed over the news wires this week and we think they are worth mentioning.
The big push is on for VW to introduce a new SUV to the American market. Although VW is seeing a yearly increase to their worldwide sales, currently at 3.2 million vehicles globally, most of their increase is due to an increase in China. In the Americas, their sales are actually lagging.
VW is convinced that the lag in sales is due mostly to poor sales in the SUV market, and that is why they are eager to introduce a new SUV, dubbed the CrossBlue, to showrooms across the United States by 2016. The CrossBlue was first introduced at the Detroit auto show in January, 2013, and since then VW has been trying to find a production plant. It was originally decided to produce the SUV in Chattanooga, where there is already a VW plant, but there have been some problems with the unions of late in that city. A move to Mexico may yet happen as an alternative.
Producing the new SUV would mean thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to Chattanooga, so this is a rather important decision coming up for both VW and Chattanooga.
The other bit of VW news is the new People’s Electric Car, currently on sale in Europe and doing quite well. The eUp has been in Europe for two months now, but don’t expect to see it in the U.S. until red tape over safety features are solved.
In the meantime, VW also has the eGolf, and that will be available in the U.S. around December. The price has not been set yet, but it is expected to be in the same price range as the Nissan Leaf, its main competition, which means a price point around $30,000 or $35,000. The battle between VW and Nissan for the electric car market should be an interesting one for sure.
All Import Auto Parts likes to stay in touch with automobile news around the world. The more information we have, the better we can meet your needs when you are looking for used parts for your vehicle. Give us a call the next time you need some replacement parts.