Scirocco delayed, amongst others....

[Andy665 0]

....new VW chairman Martin Winterkorn has ordered a front end restyle to incorporate a more family (read boring and conventional) look

 

Also delayed are:

 

New Passat 4 door coupe, due to be unveiled on 15th Feb, almost certain to be totally shelved

 

Tiguan to be restyled and partially re-enifneered

 

Re-think on Golf MK6, possibly leading to a delay in launch to mid 2008

 

Sounds like VW are in a bit of turmoil, the reason I like the Scirocco is because it doesn't have a corporate family look, I fear the worst with the re-style

[Jim 2]

Sigh. This is bad news indeed. As you said, the IROC seemed quite exciting because of its lairyness compared to the rest of the range!

 

And I wish they'd just drop the freakin Tiguan alltogether and leave that sort of claptrap to BMW and Land Rover!

[veedub 0]

Andy665, Gonna be asking for your deposit back? Cant see how they can change it after orders have been taken!

[Jonny_L 0]

That's annoying. I didn't realise they were actually making the tiguan, I thought it was just a hideous concept car. Lets hope that gets forgotten about.

 

Shame about the rocco and passat coupe though, I think it's fair to say VW is almost trying to loose the flair they had in the past.

[BILLCOR 1]

Can only be described as pathetic!

People have paid deposits for the new Scirroco because they liked what they saw,then some overpaid twit comes along and ruins it, I wish everybody would ask for their deposits back then maybe VW would sit up and listen

As for the Tiguan and Passat coupe, IMO a complete waste of time and i hope they get their act together for the Mk6 Golf as the Mk5 is a cross between a Peugeot and a Honda :roll:

[Tempest 0]

All sounds a bit like Porsche's (main shareholder and hence main decision taker) head-honcho, Wiedeking, through his tronies at VW (stategically placed ex-Audi boss Martin Winterkorn at the head of VW, moved Pischetsrieder out, and hence forced Bernhard - ex VW brand boss - out, back to Chrysler) and Piech (although out, still in an advisory capacity to VW, and of course descendent from the Porsche Piech family), is making sure, VW stay where they should be with respect to Porsche and Audi: Producing boring everyday bangers for the family man on a potentially tight budget (the last bit, I'm not too sure about, but certainly VW appeal to different people than the competition in D, i.e. Audi, BMW, Merc), so as to not clash with Audi and mainly Porsche (the Iroc might have got a bit too successful, just a theory of mine).

 

Oh well ... I knew it spelt trouble for the Iroc when Bernhard was more or less mobbed out by losing his main protege, Pischetsrieder.

 

Tempest

[davidwort 0]

VW seem a bit lost at the mo, the Toureg and Phaeton must have cost a shed load to develop and don't seem to have done very well sales/profits wise, the new beetle is proving hard to shift and the golfs are very expensive compared to the competition.

To make things worse, most manufacturers seem to have caught up with small diesel technology. My mates Mazda 6 is a bargain compared to a passat 2.0 TDI, VW seem intent on pricing themselves out of some segments - 1.9TDI golf match 16 grand for example

At the sports end, the mk5 GTI and R32 are competent but don't seem outstanding (I do like the MK5 GTI look myself though, grown on me a lot).

The EOS, well, some seem to like it, but it does look very bland to me, less distinctive than some of the other hard top cabrios around.

 

I guess a lot of manufacturers are are struggling profits wise globally (look at Ford) which doesn't bode well for experimentation or daring design making it into production. Ramble over.

[Jim 2]

I actually quite like the EOS. Ever since VW graciously ferried us around in a few when Eric and I went to Berlin, the better spec ones with nice big wheels and a more sporty engine were rather cool indeed and looked excellent on the move. Base spec looks a bit pants though!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

At the sports end, the mk5 GTI and R32 are competent but don't seem outstanding (I do like the MK5 GTI look myself though, grown on me a lot).

 

Drive the competitor's hot hatches then drive the Golf, you might change that opinion :-) The GTi *is* outstanding imo.

It looks superb (much nicer than the dull as dishwater MK4)

Dynamically it is the best VW ever, bar none

It's rapid!

Very well screwed together

It will hold it's value more than the competitors.

 

It's what you're paying for, the 'completeness' and competence. The competition are good, especially the Focus ST, but there's always a "but...." with them. Not so the GTI. For the money, it's bang on the nail imo and no fool pays list for one either. You can get them for 3K under list if you shop around, new with warranty.

 

As for the Scirocco, I've have had no interest in that from day one, but the last minute changes aren't surprising from the corporate machine that is Volkswagen.

 

Expect LOTS of changes to cars over the coming years. Now that everyone is getting onto the Global Yawning bandwagon, expect future cars to have less power and feature rounder, friendlier telly tubbies shapes.