Volkswagen will be reducing its prices in the US market in efforts to catch up with its Japanese rival Toyota. It will also be removing costly frills that many Americans don’t want in efforts to further make the cars more competitively priced.
“We have definitely added too many technical items that American customers don’t want to pay for. Wing mirrors that fold inward for instance, to account for narrow streets and tiny parking spaces. Who needs that in the U.S.? The streets there are so wide,” said Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn.
Comparing Volkswagen and Toyota prices, Volkswagen’s Jetta currently has a US$1,800 premium over the Toyota Corolla, which retails at US$15,200. The Passat starts at US$23,900 while the Camry’s price is US$20,000 for a base model.
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hah…so the Germans finally see that thier cars are getting too complicated with too many electronic gizmos that dont work. Its about time. Looks like they still wont admit to that…but saying they will de-content the car from useless gizmos to keep the price down.
If you ever owned an old German car, you’d know that the electrics are the biggest problems. Mechanically they are great.
Competition is good for consumers. :-)
believe me,if u have driven corolla and the jetta,u wil know that the premium is noting compare to the difference in driving those two cars,thy r worlds apart ! thrs sting abt German cars no japanese brand can replicate….the solidity,refinenment….
btw paul,hav u read abt the “VW aw”in germany that was amended today??
This is move is good, reduce unnecessary features but do not compromise on overall quality and safety.
am in japan right now on a tight schedule by honda so theres not much time to get updated on news – tomorrow night will upload what i can from the tokyo motor show which i will be attending.
Less is more….Germans always make good cars..
VW also realise price wise important. Come on Tan Chong. Wake up..wake up..
its not only tan chong thats need to wake up…..everyone in the auto industry needs to do so to compete better…..
all we are getting here is increase and increase over the years
my salute to mitsu for the initiative.
The price difference between Jetta vs Corolla and Passat vs Camry in US are not that much (around US3K or about RM12K). Why in Malaysia VW cars (paticularly Passat and Jetta) are way too expensive compared to the Toyota’s?
I’m think there is some issue where out of tan chong control. As we know if Latio wanna sell well should put price range 70-85k, but its not. Look at the new Vios price list, consider high also.
(1) why VW in Malaysia is more expensive than the Toyota’s … you have got to throw that question to the policy maker (MOF, MITI in particularly) and I bet that you will get NO response … (2) Tan Chong and its LATIO … premium price while its fresh (typical Malaysian profit oriented short term approach); just wait till the stock pile-up, lets see the discount factor ! (3) Mitsu initiative? NO … dumping and networking bro ..
woohoo… rocks man, 20k bucks for a Camry!
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rexis said,
October 24, 2007 @ 10:18 am
woohoo… rocks man, 20k bucks for a Camry!
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yeah.. 20k for a camry sure rocks… but paying apartment rent for 1k/month.
same goes to dubai, car is cheap. renting a studio with no window with one room is 6,500 AED (ratio AED is about 1:1 to MYR). check and balance :)
ooohhh.. back to the topic. very nice, good move by VW :)
Lets hope all these price-reduction measure will ever reached out shores! Hopefully!
but doesn’t price-reduction comes from cost-reduction(such from part cost & process cost), then its might have less quality part(lower quality), lesser part(less few sheets of noise absorbing material & etc.) and lesser process to make one…
For those who ask why VW is moire expensive than the Toyotas, the answer is that all VW’s are imported from Europe.
My view is that once the VW’s are assembled in Malaysia or any ASEAN country, the price will come down, but still be slightly above the competition.
Then we will see the fight between te Passat and the Camry and Accord. Joining the fray will be the Mazda 6 and Nissan Cefiro. Do you notice that because Tan Chong does not assemble the Cefiro, they import them and call it the Teanna, but price it at RM 230,000, compared with RM 160,000 for the Accord and Camry. So why do Malaysians still want to buy the Teana?
The Cefiro (Teana) is a beautiful car and the Mazda 6 has got rave revues since it’s launch overseas. So if these two are assembled locally, together with the Passat we will all benefit from the competition.
Maybe the Germans have been able to reduce their manufacturing cost with more automations in their factory.
but the problem is, everyone here wants to buy a porsche or a skyline or whatever at vios prices. Thats why people say the vios is expensive, or the latio is expensive, or even a proton selling at Rm45k is expensive.. They’d probably want car companies to give them cars for free next, and petrol at RM0.20 per litre or something.
wake up to reality.
True, true, BanyakMasukWorkshop
We have a perverted sense for Value. But why would anyone compare a Passat and (of all things) a Camry?
The US Camry at USD 20K is a 5 speed manual version. Cheapest being US18K. Its a naturally aspirated 2.4l 4 cyl that goes 150hp and 161 lb-ft
The USD 23K Passat is a 6 speed manual, 2.0l 4cyl; 200bhp turbo’d, 207lb-ft, does 0 to 60 in 6.9sec while the Camry….?
Almost similar mpg figures.
No comparison. extra USD 3K for 28% more torque, 33% bhp and you don’t look like a wuss. Hell yeah.
BanyakMasukWorkshop and bobdbilder:
Since when do malaysian car buyers look at technical specifications? They like big big big cars at cheap cheap cheap prices. They don’t care a damn about hp or torque, or even fuel consumption for that matter.
How can VW compare with Toyota’s price? Toyota don’t offer those hi-tech feature while VW does… So VW should be precier than Toyota…
smart move…
very peculiar how toyota can get some much market share and force VW to lower prices even further when they are already not that profitable on each car sold.
long jaafar…..malaysians problably seem as though they dont care about torque, power fuel efficiency etc because they have been deprived of car choices for so long.
all they need to think (for most people) is to decide how much loan(30k or 50k rm), choose between a proton or a kancil and the color. full stop
therefore bugger all other figures. until u get alot of choices in the malaysian car market and all at similar competitive, affordable price then majority of people will start to compare all these figures.
they will care once u get alot of competition……
giving up accessories in the car and reduce the price to ensure good sales?
@#$%&!!!!!!! this is NOT a right move!!!!!!
Volkswagen is sooooooooo desperate to sell more vehicles???
catch up with its Japanese rival Toyota?????? CRAP!!!!!!
Toyota is the their rival? why not BMW? Volvo? Merc? Audi?
Toyota is no.1? so what?! number one in sales doesn’t mean also number one in terms of quality and handling!!!!!!!
Jetta vs. Corolla?? CRAP!
Passat vs. Camry?? MORE CRAP!!!!
make them into the same categories just because of their sizes???
then we also can compare our Myvi with Merc A-class lah!!!!!!
(3) Mitsu initiative? NO … dumping and networking bro ..
well….whether u call that dumping or any other term, to me its still an initiative to start reducing prices. they do something that malaysians have always been arguing and dreaming about….lower price.
whats wrong with cutting accessories to reduce price? some customers dont want all these features, we can see it clearly in japan where quite alot of cars have different specs from bare bones to full spec for various needs.
even our proton here has savvy lite where ppl can afford to buy 1 at a cheaper price, of course u still have the full spec at ur convenience. its choice per say……
In the US you really cannot compare VW to Toyota. In the US, most VWs are built in Mexico, and routinely show up in the bottom of JD Power ratings, while Toyota is the opposite, many are built in the US, and come out toward if not in the top of the JD Power, which is where many of my fellow yanks come from. Not to mention the proportion of Toyota dealers to VW dealers. Then there is of course the price issue, but price isn’t everything to many yanks. Like in Malaysia, there is teh badge snobbery thing as well. Here VWs don’t really have much of a premium image, while Honda and Toyota do to most mainstream buyers. Example if you drive say a POS Chevy Cobalt, and aspire to something bigger, you tend to aspire to a Camry or Accord if you don’t covet the luxury brands. Not so much the VW. VW needs to go back to its roots worldwide.
“SOME CUSTOMERS DON’T WANT ALL THESE FEATURES”
if don’t want, then don’t buy…..
if BMW and Merc are making the same decision, then how?
cut this cut that, without this and without that, then better don’t make any cars……
some of you sound like you spend most of your life in Siberia. Since when do VW on the same league as BMW and Merc? It never was, never were, not even in its own home country.VW compete in the same market segment as most Toyota… excluding of course the Toyotas that are being sold as LEXUS in US. In fact, if you want to argue based on fact, Toyota sell more cars in the luxury car market segment than VW ever hoped to be due to the enormously successful rebranding of many top-end Toyotas from Japan into Lexuses in America. Lexus is on par with BMW and Merc in the mind of many Americans, which incidentally, is the biggest market for cars in the world, bar none. VW? VW doesn;t mean shit to any Americans. as far as Americans are concerned, VW could be Proton or Perodua….. well, maybe not, I am exaggerating but I am sure everyone got my drift…