pcc125

Volkswagen Cuts 2024 Forecast on Plant Closure, Additional Expenses - Bloomberg

kelisko

They occupy the last spots in reliability surveys. Who wants to keep buying cars from unreliable brands that don't improve but get worse every year? They will close more car plants in the future if they don't stop producing unnecessary complicated and unreliable vehicles.

angrypengu

I get that you have an axe to grind from the Q8 forum but my gosh. Here we go again with the drivel. Some of us participate on the Q8 forum b/c so few people buy D5s but why...are you on the A8 forum out of curiosity. BSG threads are comparatively dead here or is there trolling going on.

kelisko

Same reason as you. Curiosity.

KevinGary

I disagree. Angrypengu is not here to troll.

Torque450

My 10 years with the VW Group taught me that everything was about maximising returns, and hard-headed business cases. I had to argue hard on getting things approved in Wolfsburg.

If it didn't make money you had to change and find ways to make money in another way, so it could be reinvested back into the group.

If a) they are not selling enough Q8s and b) the Belgian plant is too expensive to run, then VWG will do something about it.

kelisko

I don't care about the opinion of bored trolls who are in every single forum thread of this site. Attacking anyone having a different opinion than you around forums makes you the troll. I am genuinely curious about the future of what used to be my favorite car brand. It looks bleak and it's a reality whether you accept it or not.

kelisko

No wonder. If the main goal is max profit and not product quality and reliability, this won't be the last plant they close. Latest news from Car and Driver below. Looks like the Coupe versions of the A5/S5/RS5 are axed too. With the abysmal sales, the A8/S8 could be next, who knows?

Here is a comment in the A5/S5/RS5 article that makes sense to me, I quote:

High powered or complicated technology drivetrains adding weight and reducing reliability are not what buyers want. The fan boy days are waning. Outrunning the police mentality isn't going to turn out well. We do however like nice coupe and nice 2 door hatch styling. It doesn't have to be about impressing the fellers. Sporty, lightweight good fuel economy sells. This is the company that knows better. Maybe stop looking for Roids Boys and fan boys, get back to the basics? The TT platform was excellent but once again: Audi muddled the message. Just what's under the hood of this one? Oh, turbo supercharger and 10 speed manual with nitrous? Oh neato, I'll be in the shop every week!

The New Beetle got saddled with back seats and gadgets with an interference motor or underpowered 4 cylinder only because it was too heavy. Someone worried about critics needing visors with cupholders and if it's a proper ride hauling the kids and racing on the Autobahn.

Simplicity. More analog in the components that aren't about fuel management. Easy maintenance access. By now we should be seeing less complicated, sparse coupes and 2 door hatch cars. The Alfa 4C was almost there. It's actually fantastic, but even it suffers of excessively complicated technology and unnecessary maintenance difficulty. When the time comes around. But compared to recent Audi coupes? Less is more.

A girlfriend and a few bags of groceries. Efficiency and reliability.

Sedan used car markets are always growing.

By tri2985

Torque450

It's a Global market with global targets.

The US market isn't the world, and neither is the UK/Europe. They have to make and sell profitably to leave room to make (sometime) loss-making, coupe and niche, low volume models. VWG is too tough to cater for our every preference, because that's what keeps them profitable.

I was involved in lots of VWG tenders. The cycle was cost saving /value add at every tendered service, every 3 years. If you delivered the contract savings by building win-win supplier relationships, it made absolutely no difference if the next tender gave a 5% saving from an untested alternative supplier. They would win and the trauma of change and corrective actions costs seen as being something as acceptable...

pcc125

Here is the link to the article about the end of the A5. That is too bad, I really liked the A5 convertible and its clean lines.
Dead: Audi A5 Coupe And Cabriolet (motor1.com)