I also believe that VW has lost much of the excitement that swirled around its brand in the late 90's and early '00's. Hopefully, with a refreshed lineup VW can revitalize itself.
Well, new product in and of itself helps make a brand exciting and interesting. Much of the lineup is getting long in the tooth and there are some noticeable gaps in the lineup, too (I still say they need a New Scirrocco).
How long has it been since VWoA brought out the Brand Standard stuff? You know, the uniform store fronts, the talk of excellence in sales and service? I remember reading threads on Vortex where a sales guy (vwguild) was touting how great things were going to be.
But as I read threads like this one and others about service issues, I've got to wonder how serious VW really is. Why can they run such topnotch service in Germany but not here? The easy answer is just what Sharky points out...good service requires training and training costs money and no one wants to spend it now, especially with sales in the tank.
I much would have preferred VWoA had mandated updated training for the technicians than the hugely expensive facelifts at the dealership facilities. That could have been done later, as part of the transformation.
It's going to be very interesting to see what the new Quality Assurance guy is going to achieve at VWoA. But my guess is that eventually you'll read somewhere that he's either been moved to another dept, or left VW. I hope I'm wrong, though.
