VW, Passat get feedback


Now comes the hard part.

After a whirlwind week in which Volks- wagen debuted its Chattanooga-made sedan and analysts weighed in with reviews ranging from "elegant" to "average," the company will get to work producing and marketing the car it hopes will help propel VW to worldwide sales supremacy.

Jeannine Fallon of the popular auto website Edmunds.com called the new car "gorgeous."

"It has a very elegant look," she said after viewing the vehicle at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last week.

But Aaron Bragman of IHS Automotive, which does analysis and forecasting for the industry, said VW produced "an average American midsize sedan."

"It looks like a safe bet," he said. "For people looking for a traditional VW, I don't know it will appeal."

But the president of a club of VW owners locally who checked out the new Passat in person in Chattanooga last week said he likes the fit and finish, the car's larger size and its amenities.

"I believe it's going to go over," said Mike Pleasant, Scenic City Volks Folks president. "There's a niche the car will fit in."

With the car's premiere in Detroit and Chattanooga over, VW now is prepping the production line at its Enterprise South industrial park plant and readying the car to go head-to-head with competitors such as Toyota, Ford, Honda, General Motors and Hyundai.

$4 billion bet

Volkswagen AG officials last week said the company is investing $4 billion in the U.S. market, including $1 billion in its Chattanooga plant.

The aim is to nearly triple VW and Audi brand sales by 2018 to 1 million units in the United States and help Volkswagen AG dethrone Toyota worldwide as the No. 1 automaker. In 2010, the VW and Audi brands sold 358,459 vehicles.

Martin Seiwert, an editor for the German business news magazine WirtschaftsWoche, said the 1 million annual sales mark is "a really high number" that many doubt VW can reach.

"But they're on a really good run," he said at the auto show. VW brand sales were up 20.3 percent in the U.S. last year.

Seiwert said VW has to produce a car such as the all-new Passat in America to reach its goals. The Passat is designed specifically for U.S. motorists in terms of its larger size and amenities, and VW plans to sell the midsize sedan in much higher numbers than the existing, more expensive European Passat.

"The [new] Passat will bring VW closer to its goal," Seiwert said.

Edmundo Javier Regnaga of the El Economista newspaper in Mexico City, who also viewed the Passat at the auto show, was upbeat about the new car, citing its German engineering.

He was critical of what he thought was a cheap-looking hard plastic piece on the doors.

"Other than that, it's a great car," Regnaga said.

Dieter Egloff of Cosima TV in Berlin, who also was at the auto show, said the new Passat is better than the European version. He, too, mentioned the American car's size, especially enhanced leg room.

Egloff added that he likes the price tag -- $20,000 for the base compared with a starting price of $31,000 for the Passat in Europe.

"Why do I have to pay so much in Europe?" he asked. VW has said it has no plans to export the car to Europe.

Pleasant said that a top VW official locally told him last week the automaker still is sweating the car's details.

"He said, 'We're still working ... on getting quality to resemble an upscale car,'" Pleasant said.

American PassatThe Chattanooga-made VW PASSAT, to hit dealers as a 2012 model later this year, will set benchmarks for safety, driving performance and environmental responsibility for midsize cars in the U.S, according to VW executives.

Pleasant said he asked the official why the Passat name was used on the new car. Only 12,479 of the previous model Passats were sold in the United States in 2010.

Pleasant said he was told the name was chosen at VW's headquarters in Germany and that it's a strong one in the auto world.

"In their opinion, it's a strong name worldwide," he said.

The Volks Folks president said he really likes the clean diesel engine version of the new Passat.

"If you produce a family car that get 40 to 42 miles a gallon, that appeals to a lot of people," Pleasant said, adding that motorists won't have to give up their "creature comforts" to drive a car with high fuel efficiency.

To view the entire edition of 2011 Volkswagen Unveiled Click Here.


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