Staying still is moving backwards, some say. Volkswagen seems to agree with this, as it moves to implement a shorter five-year life cycle policy for its future core models, as opposed to the existing and (European) industry-standard seven-year cycle.
As such, a new mainstream model such as future iterations of the Golf or Passat will be replaced by an all-new version after just five years of its initial introduction. A mid-life facelift, meanwhile, will be carried out three years into the model’s now-shortened life.
“We will reduce the life cycle of our products to better align with customers’ buying habits. A five-year life cycle will cut two years off our current life cycle,” Auto Express quoted Volkswagen of America’s vice president for marketing and strategy, Joerg Sommer as saying.
A five-year life cycle programme is closer to a Japanese carmaker’s standard operating pattern, though Mazda is reported to move to a four-year life cycle schedule. First unveiled in July 2012, the still-fresh Mazda6 already has a mid-life facelift coming up soon – so it does appear as if the plan is moving ahead.
Now, is the world ready for full-model updates every four of five years? Tell us in the comments below.
Somehow I get a feeling implementation of shorter life cycle will come at the expense of reliability. New models will always come with minor teething issues that will take time to iron out. Imagine now with shorter life cycle not only car companies are rushed to churn out new models, teething issues will be more frequent as well. What happened to quality over quantity?
if car makers care about quality over quantity like in the old days, car now days wont have so many problems
That is why VW is known as Malaysia’s No 1 Tow truck Best Friend.
And Proton as Malaysia No 1 garage best friend.
dude ure very funny.. im really laughing front of my phone
The value of VW will fall faster and steeper… Thats all to it
sure VW will change that perception soon..wait for it..they will improve for sure..
Yeah. Maserati is no. 1 super VVVVVIP customer for Sam Tow Truck coz his VW breakdown almost every alternate day.
That’s why Maserati’s isteri lari with Sam Tow Truck.
Buy more VW to support Sam Tow Business…Malaysia Boleh.
thats true, however if car buyers today are as smart or less demanding as those in the old days we wouldn’t worsen the quality problem
Every face lift you see people asking for more gears more hps more gadgets
New buyers also want more for less if not they rage online as if it’s the end of the world
So think about it how can manufacturer give more for less money while maintaining or improve quality ?
That’s the problem with this sort of capitalist model economy. The most important thing they want to see is growth. Not much else matters. To fuel growth, they need people to keep buying their cars and they can’t do that if they cannot introduce something new that people would want to have. It’s a vicious cycle in a world that has limited resources….
I bought my Passat in March 2014.
My 2014 Passat already breakdown 4 times. Each time 6 weeks in workshop. In total, about 6 months already in workshop.
I have hardly time to drive my Passat. It has been less time in my porch than the Service Center.
Pls show us prove that this happens to you, if its real pls sue VW Malaysia.
You must be the moron VW Service Advisor which only know how to lanjap in toilet looking at mat minah picture.
Go fix the dsg lar…bangau.
I am happy to say DSG problem was solved long time ago you can check with my new CEO. Pls mind your language here, it makes you look bad.
I owned a passat B7 too 2013 model.
My car has enter to VW SC as following event:
Incident 1.
During 1st month.. some hot chick crashed into my back, it took 3 weeks for SC to order the parts and repaint the car.
Incident 2.
Some suspension bearing replacement, 2 working days.
Incident 3.
At 22k mileage, there is sign of clutch slip, when to SC, make appointment they told me 2 months waiting list.. continue to drive the car to 2 months the car still work perfectly except it judder a little during D1 to D2. On my last week of waiting list, ah.. Machatronic mulfunction…toll my car to SC..
All i did was, “buat muka kesian – i seriously need my car fix coz my life depend on it”.
Guee what, within 3 working days both cluth and mecha was replaced… (if I’m not mistaken this was after they introduced the centralise system in handling warranty claim accoridng to the SA)
Incident 4.
Battery drain to zero after 1 year owning it. Toll again, on the same business day the battery was replace.
To my friend above, maybe you were unlucky gotten a defect model, i can’t tell why your car breakdown so long seating in SC unless your have some really badluck each time your breakdown are very severe issues related to electronic, engine and DSG related (which SC out of stock).
Yes is hassle each time if brokedown, but i always stick with Wing Hin branch for their service and warranty claim so far it has been smooth for me.
Just my 2cent.
Dear John,
DO u ever regret buying a VW Passat since the car was is so troublesome? You would actually have better option such as Civic Altis gua!
Please show the breakdown report / case ref no.
You must be another ahbeng service advisor sitting inside the toilet wechat with all the PRC ah lians.
Go fix the DSG lar ah beng and stop digging your nose.
2 months to arrange for appointments, are you out of car for a very long time?
What happen to your car?
My friend also drives Passat but his car got no problem.. I’m wondering what was the problem of your Passat..
Unable to determine are you real VW Passat owner? Just basically get to find out many ppl in blog n forum just like to create their own story by saying that VW breakdown everywhere..IN fact, I caught 1 in forum, he is not even a VW owner n he drive Preve only.. Well i may not know what is his intension of doing so.. I would suggest if you can provide us show the breakdown report / case ref no. to trust yoru word
Can you share what really happened to you car? What makes ur car to broke down 4 times and spend total of 6 months in SC? Which SC you sent you car? Mind showing us any proof or the name of SA whom you talk to?
are u for real????seems like its hard to believe of what u just told…even other cold conti like fiat, alfas dont hv such thing…
I just bit more lucky than you. Passat 2014
No towed, just rattle dash, fuel pump breaks, wind noise, judder DSG, engine sudden off. visit VW workship for 15 times but never solve my problems.
Warranty claim for fuel pump wait for 6 months until say,”our system problems” can not claim for yoiu. YOu try another VW workshop..
SIGH… VW, shame on you. worst after sales in the market! Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so what is the status for your claim? Did you went to another service centre?
dodgeviper88..
I understand your feeling and your concern over implementation of shorter life cycle will come at the expense of reliability.
Well, just my point of view :-
10 year ago, for a car manufacture to implement or even to design a car. It really take a lot of man power to the design many calculate of the car in many ankle and it really take time in order to create new model.
SOmehow when you mentioned that VW shorten life cycle on their new model will affect the reliability. If it happen 10 year ago, yes! I total agreed.
But as in today. Well, with software technology nowadays. To design or modify a vehicle is so easy even like ABC…..According to calculator all engine part and fitted nicely. After rushing out new design, they would have ample of time to make the car more reliability
…. 5 years model renew plan are they going to change pricing strategy like japanese models?
Meanwhile in Proton…
I noticed one thing about VW, they pandai cakap banyak. DSG also they cannot soft, they will come out with all sorts of plans and press statements.
Hello VW, sort your DSG first. People in Malaysia berlambak lambak visiting the workshop becaus eof your DSG problems. That also includes 2014 cars.
Sort your basic first. then come out with all your gimmicks like 5 year cycles.
Knowing DSG got issue but wondering why Malaysian public
keep on buying the car. Ignorant..naive or simply stupid.
Actually, VWM sold less vehicles this year (partly due to DSG image, partly due to competition)
well, neemfa…
agreed your statement but not only VW who have a drop in Sales. SUch drop lead to all other car manufacture as well.
I can ask you the same, Proton and perodua got so many problem which even their own mechanic can’t solve and will say “Biasala encik, kereta Malaysia”. Y ppl still buying? Are they Ignorant, naive or simply stupid as well?
Well put it this way, at least Proton or Perodua won’t break down in the middle of the road making you strandle or stuck in god forsaken place.
DSG is not meant for our hot and humid asian traffic period. A normal auto torque converter will have much lesser problem than this minarchitronic crap this german is putting into our naive malaysian buyers.
No car manufacturer expect the people to buy their car and get stranded. Have you ever seen an advertisement saying that “Come buy our car, and get stranded in the middle of nowhere”. Every car maker trying to introduce a new technology which gives a better feeling when we drive. But at the same time, every technlogy is not perfect..it need some improvement from time to time..so now VW is trying their best..so why still wana condemn when people try to help..
Bro, they already have plan to solve this problem and doing it stage by stage. Even they are sending german experts to malaysia to look over this issue according to one of the article..so dun say that they didn’t put any initiative to solve this technical problem..
The experts just come here to enjoy the sun, beach clubs and screw some sarung party gal lar.
Dun simply accuse them laa…they are doing their job when needed..and of course anyone will have some entertainment at their time off to release stress..dun tell me u ppl work 24 hours everyday..
The world is ready for 5 years cycle but we Malaysians are not ready yet…not as long as the car is over taxed…duh
In Malaysia, our loan is up to 9 years..just imagine they implement it for the nxt Golf (MK8)..the most of average malaysian will go for 9 yrs of the bank loan..if they still a loyal VW customer, most probably will change the car during end of the life cycle of MK9 or probably go for MK10..that’s hillarious..thanks..
meanwhile.. myvi.. will adopt 15 years life cycle..
just another way to make more money, they learned that asians are generally kiasu so new models more sales..
It kinda means,indirectly,if u wanna buy a vw, get a 5yr loan n not longer…
if u realize almost all manufacturers except premium cars will use same platform for 10 years or 2 models. eg is mk5 and mk 6 golf
If you also realize our Malaysian car buyers cannot accept a 10 year platform engine or gearbox tech
They want groundbreaking tech every 3 years for less money :)
For those taking 9 years car loan, by the time you finished servicing it, your car is already almost 2 generations older. How?
Malaysian’s generally cannot afford cars but still wanna gaya.
Buy again lor
it will become like vios buyer loh.
bought one in 2006. NCP42 model. than NCP93 model came in 2007, loan is not finished yet. cannot buy.
but now 2014, loan already finished. can buy the latest version. the previous one… can only look.
i think honda has 2 years lifecycle .. haha
I’m against it even though if I have the cash to switch every 5 years. I just don’t think its a nice feeling when say you get the car a year after launch because you waited for them to iron out issues with the first and second batch then you get it on the 2nd year only to see the facelift coming in 6 months time.
Then there’s the part where you begin your life into the modification scene after the warranty is over say in 3 years time and your mods only last for 2 years before a new model comes out and for those who get a VW, the warranty is 5 years so no mods for u haha – facepalm.
In the end of the day here, suffering of used car selling price it always the owner. Car manufacturer it only care about number keep on selling and selling. And its not just only VW follow this trend, actually Mercedes does too, like the B class facelift its coming soon..
I’m sorry…but this does mean that we need to buy car like hell????
Hey dude, I feel literally sucks when I save my bucks for a car, with the knowledge of after 3 years it have a new face and after 5 years, a new one come out!!!!
Sorry, I don’t think this gonna work for me though. @.@
Hope its not affect on legendary model….like Golf GTi
They will follow vios. Keep the chasis, engine and gearbox for 15 years. Just change the body every 5 years and call it a new car. Oh yea
meanwhile in Malaysia…… almost all Malaysian stuck with 9 years loan.owh wai.
Haha, yeah. It’s a lot of money to buy a RM100k++ car in M’sia. SO for VW is even harder to get (example Golf). That’s why so many ppl driving Proton Wira/Inspira on the road.
in fact the market competition nowadays is very intense and shorter life cycle is necessary. This apply not only to car maker but also to all other electronic products, tyres, apparel etc. For example today VW Golf is very fashion, fun to drive and technology, the next year Renault revenge with new Megane with additional features to over take the Golf. This is realistic world and all players seeking for survival.
Look at Korean automakers, their models generally less than 5 years life cycle. Like Forte launched in mid of 2008 and replaced by K3 Cerato in July 2012. Why they need to change to new models when Forte is still selling quite well. Because other competitor already upgrade their same segment models after few years Forte launched. To hold on their market share and further penetration, they put more investment and launched K3 to overtake other competitors. The world is cruel for those who response slow will be left out.
Quantity vs quality was debate over the decades. No doubt if quantity were being concerned the higher chance of quality dropped. The automaker gonna work hard to maintain their quality while talking about quantity.
Something doesn’t sounds right here… 5 years life cycle so they can officially wash hand over the teething DSG issues on current lineup?
Imagine no more software patch, no new clutch plate material, no more attempts to solve DSG issues because it’s officially “Outdated version & no longer supported”.. damn..
Well, FireAce.
Just get yourself right. Who n where do you buy the car from?
Well if you buy the car from Mr ColdWater Sales man work under a small holding company that named as ColdWater Sdn Bhd. Then you have to be worry, that such company will wash hand to run off from problem.
But the company that sell you VW is DAS AUTO. which operated their business worldwide.. you think they make such bad name that would affect their business in future?
car manufacturer cnt simply stop providing after sales services even there are already new models coming up. If like that, no one will be driving cars on road which already exceed 5 years because of car manufacturers stopped making the spare parts and provide after sales service. As I can see, VW is doing a pretty good job trying to solve the technical problems. They even sent their german experts to malaysia to assist in this problem. I am sure they will always provide a good service even if their car exceed the life cycle..
for the past 2 generations, MkV Golf launched in 2004 and lasted until 2008 – a period of 4 years.
the MkVI cycle was only 5 years – from 2008 to 2013. what VW is trying to emphasize here?
care to elaborate more, Hafriz?
i can understand this though for Polo and the bigger Passat which has a life cycle of between 7-9 years for a full model change. what I am trying to say is, VW already knows on this strategy so it is not new to them and nothing there to boast about.
I think this is a poor decision.
The reason I (and most) buy German (excluding the great engineering) is that the cars don’t look old after a few years.
I drive a 2007 Golf and people think it looks like a new car.
Try to convince anyone that a 2007 Mazda 6 is new….Just try.
Try buy polo 2014 ckd version, people will think u just bought a 90’s car
Hm..It just your personal preference.
For me,I’d like the exterior design of Polo Sedan as well as it’s performance.
You syok sendiri lar. People will think you must be a poor soul driving a myvi lookalike. Each time i pass a VW breakdown besides, i will laugh and gave the poor folks a clap while me happily in my vios driven without issue.
aiyaa bro..dun be so bad till wana be happy when other people having problem..every ppl have their own dream car..they afford means they will buy..just because you are using vios, dun expect everyone to use the same car..
Why you say myvi lookalike? All cars models in a similar segment relatively look the same… just a few adjustments here and there, but come on lah. Can’t compare myvi and VW. :/
In near future there is no more facelifted version. Every 2-3 years can consider new model already.
Wonder how many years cycle will Proton adopt? Proton will have headache. :-p
Irregardless of the lifecycle, people tend to purchase cars based on thier budget.
Shorter lifecycle, even better for me. faster model changes causes even more depreciation and as I never favoured buying new cars anyway, even when they were cheap in North America. I just get a few year old used car, drive for a few years, then change.
Depreciation for me is not an issue since used cars tend to have its biggest chunk taken off in the first 5 years. In the 20 odd years of driving, I’ve never bought a new car. Nor taken a loan to buy one either.
But I can see why they are doing it. Fresh models = new demand, but that has the risk of turning cars into appliances, where each model change yeild less and less “revolutionary” changes. When is the last time you went out to see what new functions you can get with a new microwave?
Its a double edged sword. It can cut both ways. It could hurt VW more if they fail to differentiate the models enough.
Stellar point you made there. In the future, the words “all-new” might just mean a super facelift.
Perodua and Proton better. More than 10 years life cycle.
Its not entirely a bad thing is it? While change for the better is good, change for the sake of changing isn’t good.
Long product lifecycle for Proton and Perodua goes agaisnt progress but in our local economy and consumer purchasing power, is probbaly a blessing in disquise. Long lifecycle equates to cheaper parts, easier to service/repair.
It does not effect us.
Malaysian in general are average income earner.Like being said in another comment,we buy car according to budget.
How many of us can afford upmarket make and model?
Less than 50% i guess.I am talking about overall not just big city.
New model is just a term to manufacturer.Does not have anything to do with radical or whole new engineering.New vios is a great example.Why waste money on new tooling for a whole new engine when the current one is still accepted.Just change the body and something minor and sell it.
Myvi is another example when new is not new at all.Just remember,this is just a brilliant practice in business.Once the market realize whats going on,they wont hesitate to change which is what happen to toyota when its being overtake by Honda in term of sale.
Above all,we Malaysian mati2 wants to be seen driving something new when it comes out.So,regardless of how long for new model to comes out we will mati2 want to buy.Explain why a certain trim of Axia is prefered by us.
its 4 years for Golf now…
Assuming if you take a 7 year loan to buy your VW, by 5 years you haven’t finished repaying the loan, the car already depreciated more than usual due to new model just recently launch…oh wow….
it won’t be depreciated just because new models come out..as long you take good care of it since the day u bought the car, it will look nice and the RV also will be good..because ppl just wana see the condition of the car, how u maintain and service the car and is it accident free..
7 years cycle change to 5 years.
Means less reliability than current crap reliability.
VW will have more problems!
vw changing to 5 years life cycle doesn’t mean that it will have less reliability..every car if u maintain properly then it can last longer..it just depends on what type of driver using the car..