Volkswagen has best sales since 1973!!

[OriginalWheelman]

Ugh, I've always thought MKIII Jettas were hideous. The most bland, vanilla, featureless form of the 3-box. The hood dips WAY down to the nose but the rear deck is seven storeys high. The car has fifteen beltlines. And VW cheaped out and used the same doors on the hatch, sedan, and wagon so you've got that goofy emptiness in the sharp c-pillar behind the rear doors on the sedan. The low nose and TINY wheel arches exaggerate the crummy proportions of the massive greenhouse that the sky-high rear deck fails to disguise.

I've never liked Jetta styling, but the MKIII and MKIV are the embodiment of everything I hate about small-car styling. Tall, stubby, narrow, misproportioned and poorly realized. It was the cube before Nissan started building the Cube, except without the bizarre/cute factor.



And that's supposed to be a flattering photo.

Wow, I liked how the MarkIII Jetta looked till I read that, now I'm sad.

[Jesda]

Aww damn it, Mod

[Rex]

Let's be honest saying MoD's tastes aren't mainstream would be a bit of an understatement.

I like the body style of the example he showed, what I didn't care for was their version of the "no one puts grills on the front of cars version" Passat of the same era.

[Bubba1]

Let's be honest saying MoD's tastes aren't mainstream would be a bit of an understatement.

I like the body style of the example he showed, what I didn't care for was their version of the "no one puts grills on the front of cars version" Passat of the same era.

This^ I agree the grill-less body style Passat was their ugliest. That said, the Passat was never meant to sex on wheels. It's a traditional 4 door 3 box family sedan or 2 box 5 door wagons, which has expanded in size over the years at the same pace as the average American's waistline. Personally I don't think significantly lowering them makes them more attractive.

MoD may dislike VW's but with their growing sales, but it's difficult to argue against them getting better at designing what many new car buying non-enthusiast Americans want in their new cars.

[Jesda]

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. VW only has 1-2% of the US market. They also have a lot of potentially dangerous brand overlap.

VW's success has been in growing markets like China, South America, and Eastern Europe.

[Bubba1]

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. VW only has 1-2% of the US market. They also have a lot of potentially dangerous brand overlap.

I see some brand overlapping but don't you think they've done a better job overall differentiating than GM did when Chevy,Buick,Olds,and Pontiac all offered the same vehicles with different grills/badges??

[MinisterofDOOM]

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. VW only has 1-2% of the US market. They also have a lot of potentially dangerous brand overlap.

VW's success has been in growing markets like China, South America, and Eastern Europe.

Yeah. Like I said, these sales they're whooping about are still fewer than Altima sells alone in a month. 2 might be an increase compared to 1, but it still isn't 100.

I see some brand overlapping but don't you think they've done a better job overall differentiating than GM did when Chevy,Buick,Olds,and Pontiac all offered the same vehicles with different grills/badges??

Or Mercury. Why the Hell did that brand even exist after 1979 anyway? Ford + Chrome + light-up grille = whole new brand?!

[Jesda]

I see some brand overlapping but don't you think they've done a better job overall differentiating than GM did when Chevy,Buick,Olds,and Pontiac all offered the same vehicles with different grills/badges??

Skoda, Seat, VW, and Audi are selling several similar cars within the same markets. Same platforms, same engines, tweaked styling and pricing. A silly marketing game, like GM.