BusinessWeek Asks : Can VW Find Its Way In America?

VW Microbus That Was Never Produced For US Consumption

Washington DC July 13, 2007; The AIADA newsletter reported that Volkswagen's experience in the U.S. has always been one of highs and lows. But for the past three years, its U.S. operations have lost close to $1 billion annually.

Now it's trying again to save the brand in the U.S. by bringing in Stefan Jacoby, a German with close ties to VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn, to head U.S. operations.

According to BusinessWeek, Jacoby's mission is clear: to meet Winterkorn's target of breaking even in the U.S. by 2009. To turn operations around, he has to battle the punishingly high Euro and VW's limited manufacturing presence in North America.

Even more importantly, the company needs to introduce new models that build on its long tradition of quirkiness and connect with U.S. consumers. Dealers think VW blew a golden opportunity when it chose not to introduce an updated version of the wildly popular Microbus from the '60s and '70s.

Casey Gunther, VW's top-selling U.S. dealer, in Coconut Creek, Fla., is worried. "We're missing the funkiness" that U.S. buyers expect from VW, he says. "The Germans don't understand."