Volkswagen brand to become more premium to it's cousin Skoda !!
2013 Volkswagen Cars
Volkswagen’s Jetta and Passat sedan were designed with the American market in mind, and Volkswagen is hoping to boost sales to an astronomical 800,000 units in the United States, as it aims for global dominance of the automotive sector. While vehicles like the Routan minivan have been a flop, their Touraeg and Tiguan SUVs, Golf hatchback, GTI hot hatch, CC sports sedan and of course, the Beetle have long been venerated by critics and enthusiasts.
Volkswagen has come a long way since the Beetle was introduced to America in the 1960s. For a long time, they were a marginal but premium brand positioned as the darling of enthusiasts on a budget. This didn’t translate into sales, and the company has re-positioned themselves as a volume player, selling affordable mainstream cars with the cachet of a European brand. Their strategy seems to be working, as the new Jetta has been a sales success despite being panned by critics as a betrayal of everything the previous Jetta stood for. Products like the GTI and GLI sport compacts have long been bright spots in Volkswagen’s lineup, and their current crop of products seems to have resonated with a consumer base that ignored VW for a time.
The ‘True Life Costs’ website aims to show that the little things really do add up over the months and years, and that Volkswagen understand this. For example, what if your choice of daily sandwich affected where you could afford to go on holiday? This led to the big question: What will your whole life cost you?
To tackle this pretty scary question, Tribal DDB UK created a miniature representation of life; a model village populated by tiny, stop motion-animated inhabitants. One key element was how the quality of the online experience would be taken to reflect the quality of the cars. It had to be solid and well designed, without losing any of the playful and tactile art direction that makes it accessible. The vista was shot using a tilt-shift style to exaggerate the small scale feel. Multiple camera passes allowed the agency to incorporate the streets and buildings into an interactive environment. As visitors explore they’re encouraged to re-evaluate their living and domestic decisions and ultimately calculate their ‘Total Life Cost’. Ordinary costs are put under the microscope as visitors contemplate the value of their choices and are encouraged to share and compare their often surprising Cost Report with their friends on Facebook.
Volkswagen’s sustained effort to reposition it’s Skoda brand so that it sits lower than it’s VW brand has angered Skoda dealers across Europe.
Reducing the level of standard equipment on the Skoda is hurting customer satisfaction as well as making them angry, said Thomas Peckruhn, chairman of the Skoda dealer association.
Volkswagen top management believe that the Skoda brand has moved too close to its main brand and is therefore luring customers away from VW models such as the Polo and Golf.
At the Paris Motor Show, when asked about the issue of Skoda, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn retorted “We cannot have a Skoda Fabia with a higher value instrument panel than the VW Polo.” He went on to say that VW will reduce Skoda production costs by cutting back on equipment levels.
Skoda is VW Group’s entry level brand but the technically similar VW models cost thousands of Euros more than a comparable Skoda.
Obviously, Skoda dealers do not agree with Winterkorn.
“We conquer customers from French brands such as Peugeot and Renault, including Dacia,” Peckruhn said. He also said Skoda will lose sales if its cars are de-contented. “It is impossible to believe that customers will not notice something like that.”
As an example, Skoda’s semi-automatic climate control system with a cooled glove box has been removed even though it is a popular selling point in dealerships. VW have also removed other standard features such as the umbrella that was integrated into the rear door of the Superb.
Its expected that other standard items will be moved to the options list, further angering Skoda dealerships.
As most of us know German Automobile Giant Volkswagen Group comprises of Skoda, Audi & Porsche. Unlikely the International Markets in India Volkswagen & Skoda runs head-to-head but now Volkswagen India have decided to Follow up the International trend & Re-Position Volkswagen as a Premium brand as compared to Skoda.Like Nissan & Renault, Volkswagen & Skoda shares Platform of their same range Products such as Fabia-Polo, Rapid-Vento, Laura-Jetta & Superb-Passat.
With VENTO & RAPID Group has started following the Conventional trend of Volkwagen being on a bit Premium side. Currently RAPID is priced INR 6.92 Lakhs to 9.70 Lakhs & VENTO is priced INR 7.29 Lakhs to 9.89 Lakhs.
$$Ay Jay$$