The idea that Americans don’t want sedans is, in some ways, overblown. Many Americans do want a sedan. Many of the most popular vehicles in America are sedans. The catch is that people want affordable vehicles and they want options. Given a range of options, many previous sedan owners will opt for the convenience of a crossover, but not all of them.
Volkswagen should be able to take advantage of this, having an affordable car in the form of a Jetta and, once, having a nice-but-affordable sedan in the form of the Passat. But the Passat replacement we were supposed to get has been unceremoniously killed before it even got on the boat; this was a smart move by the company, even if it portends a murky future.
This will be another volume of The Morning Dump that embraces the uncertainty of the moment, as Audi and Porsche are grappling with the same underlying conditions and trying to make smart decisions. One possibly smart decision carmakers are coming around to is: “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t be advertising in the Super Bowl this year.”
CDK Global is a company that seems to only be in the news over alleged bad behavior lately and, right on cue, the company is now agreeing to settle a huge lawsuit related to screwing around with vendors.
The Volkswagen ID.7 Isn’t Coming To America And I’m Sorry For All 27 People Who Wanted An ID.7
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16
I am in an Old Testament mood this morning and, in particular, I feel very motivated by the King James Version of Proverbs. People think this version of the Bible was written by William Shakespeare. It probably wasn’t, but the language was definitely inspired by the same poetic style that permeates the Bard’s writing.
The above saying has been shortened to just “Pride goeth before a fall” in the modern tongue, but I like the full quote. Volkswagen was definitely haughty toward the end of the Piech era, and it led to, if not total destruction, at least a big fall.
Did Volkswagen learn its lesson? Not quite. It rushed to make electric cars and assumed everyone would just buy what they had to offer, even if what they had to offer wasn’t really competitive with the class-leading cars from Tesla. VW’s charging network was rushed into existence and had difficulty delivering a comparable experience to Tesla’s Supercharger network. This was another form of pretentiousness, though one tinged with a bit more desperation.
Focusing just on Volkswagen, the first non-compliance EV the company rolled out for the U.S. market was the Volkswagen ID.4, a totally fine crossover with all sorts of issues. It didn’t sell all that well. It then didn’t sell at all after an issue with its door handles.
Next up was the much-promised, long-delayed van. Jason reviewed the production ID.Buzz and found it to be a great idea with some important execution issues. The third vehicle was supposed to be the ID.7, a Passat-sized electric sedan. We reviewed it in 2023 in advance of a 2024 release. That 2024 release never happened as the company delayed it, citing a drooping demand for electric cars.
And now, according to AutoTrader.ca, VW has given up on the idea entirely:
The automaker initially planned to start selling the ID.7 in North America in the summer of 2024, only to delay its launch to a later, unannounced date. Now, VW says it is scrapping the ID.7’s North American launch altogether due to the overall downturn of global electric vehicle (EV) sales.
The decision was first reported by Guide Auto Web and later confirmed to AutoTrader by Mark Gillies, the director of public relations for Volkswagen Group of America. He added that, despite the ID.7’s cancellation, Volkswagen will continue to focus on electric vehicles as part of its core product strategy and that it will offer more EVs in the North American market in the future.
I love the idea of choice, but this is unfortunately sensible. I don’t think the issue is that it’s a sedan (the 8th, 10th, 11th, 21st, and 25th most popular cars in America last year were sedans). Given how crowded the electric crossover market is, an affordable EV sedan with good range might work. The BMW i4 is doing fairly well in this space, even if it’s a touch pricey.
On Europe’s more generous WLTP test, the car gets 621 km of range. This typically translates to around 300 miles of range on our EPA test, which is, at least, minimally competitive. And, sure, EV sales are not as explosive as they were. Still, I think there’s a place for an affordable EV sedan.
But this was never going to be affordable. The starting price, at best, was going to be $50,000, and wouldn’t qualify for a tax credit that might go away for leased cars. Making dealers support a car that has this many strikes against it is a tough business case and VW was not going to make it work.
To make things more complicated, on his first day on the job our new Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, instructed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to review and, probably, rewrite the country’s stricter fuel economy regulations. This move would take pressure off Volkswagen to sell more EVs and, potentially, allow them to focus on more profitable cars like the American-built Atlas.
Porsche And Audi Might Build Cars In North America
“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” – Proverbs 27
Neither Porsche nor Audi builds cars in America, which seemed sensible in an era when cars could ship around the world without having to worry about too many onerous tariffs… assuming they weren’t trucks.
The greater Volkswagen Group loved building cars in Germany, which is logical for a German company that’s co-owned by a German state. All of this makes less sense now in an era of tariff threats. The old rules were that Germany could build in Mexico and import to the United States without much worry. Those are the old rules and no one knows, quite, what the new day may bring forth.
It’s why Volkswagen is at least considering bringing Audi and Porsche production to the United States according to Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper:
The tariffs on car imports announced by US President Donald Trump are putting the VW Group and its subsidiaries Audi and Porsche under pressure. Both brands currently produce exclusively outside the USA and would therefore be severely affected by additional duties on imports.
As Handelsblatt learned from several people familiar with the background, the group is now considering setting up production for both brands in the USA.
Will President Trump follow through with his plans to tariff everything? Given the chaos of yesterday, it’s foolishness to presume he won’t. Volkswagen Group has a few options here, including a new Scout plant in South Carolina and Volkswagen’s Chattanooga facility.
Only Stellantis Will Be In The Super Bowl Nationally
“Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.” – Proverbs 14
When I was at the old lighting site we had a couple of years where we gleefully covered every single Super Bowl ad. This made sense then, but I couldn’t imagine doing it in 2025. It would be much easier because only Ram and Jeep will have any presence on the national broadcast according to AdWeek:
Ford, Audi, Honda, Hyundai, and General Motors are out. So are Kia, BMW, Toyota, and Volkswagen — four automakers that ran a spot in last year’s Super Bowl.
With less than two weeks to go, only Stellantis-owned sibling brands Jeep and Ram have announced plans to air a TV commercial during the broadcasted match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb.
First, of course, I embrace the conspiracy theory that the officials tanked the Texans (and Bills) so that Taylor Swift’s boyfriend could be in the Super Bowl. Go Eagles!
Second, this is super weird! As AdWeek points out, though, it makes sense. There’s a lot of confusion out there about the auto market this year and it’s not like anyone is going to pick up any points by trying to push an EV no one is going to buy. At the same time, Ram needs to do advertising to try and pick up some attention as part of the company’s, idk, 19th comeback in 24 years?
The ads will be made by Cramblin Duvet Advertising, who I hear does great work.
CDK Global To Pay $630 Million To Settle Dealer Data Case
“He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.” – Proverbs 11
If you guessed that the $630 million CDK Global settlement I’m talking about relates to the company’s handling of a cyberattack you’d be wrong. The dealer software company, which was taken private by a private equity firm in 2022, is in trouble for something else dating back to 2018.
Tech vendor AutoLoop and other companies included in the settlement create apps for the dealers’ management systems for inventory management, repair orders, warranty services and other functions.
AutoLoop sued CDK in 2018, accusing it of cutting off access to auto dealer systems and driving up prices vendors pay to access data for their apps. A judge certified the case as a class action in July.
CDK chief executive Brian MacDonald said in a statement the company “felt it was time to bring this long-standing litigation to a conclusion” and that the settlement would have no impact on its business.
This is also separate from the $100 million settlement CDK Global paid last year to cover a class action by dealers who said they overpaid for the company’s products.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s a group “everybody is talking about” friends. It’s Bruno and the Heaters live at the 1987 American Music Awards. Man, that lead singer can really honk on bobo.
The Big Question
What should VW’s next product be in the United States?
“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” – Proverbs 27″
I’m more of an NIV reader, but I do appreciate the KJV references to, essentially, hubris in “the industry.”
I have never worked in said industry. And I don’t pretend to know/understand what pressures they are under.
And, with a new administration in this country, and the sea change of regulations or deregulations that are coming, I would hate to be in the shoes of anyone that has to figure out what’s next. In the automotive industry or any other.
I got a bit of a haircut with the DeepSeek announcement, Monday.
It kind of makes me want to take all my shekels out of the stock market, put them into bonds and be satisfied with where I’m at. Until things sort themselves out. I am not good dealing with chaos. Which is a state we are going to be in for months, if not a couple of years. I believe.
Some will get better returns than I will. If they are insiders, or maybe lucky.
I am sure that my financial planner is pretty busy these days. Dealing with portfolios far larger than mine.
But the chaos for product managers, across the board, including the automotive industry, has got to be driving the anti-ulcer products through the roof.
Ah! Maybe that’s what I should be routing my investments towards. and BP management meds as well.
Anyway, I wish you all well.
Uhhh yeah, they did an ad for the best lawyer in town of course they do great work.
make the buzz a hybrid or range extended version and slash the price, even if they’re losing money it’ll at least get them the EV credits they’re desperate for.
VW is arguably in the same position as Nissan. There is no reason to buy one outside of the potential for it being cheap.
They aren’t “drivers cars” anymore (excluding GTI/Golf R). The “Audi interior” from the 00’s is gone. They aren’t anything special design-wise.
They aren’t known for reliability. There is no long warranty to hedge against that. Nissan might still have a better reputation for quality despite the CVT fiasco. Most average buyers probably don’t know about it.
Price – sticker prices aren’t anything special. I see a local dealer has $6-7k off Tiguans, I guess that moves the needle into “cheap” territory for a compact/mid CUV.
But if that is your sales pitch, your brand is dying. So make something worth buying. The GTI and Golf R fans can’t keep the lights on.
The “Buzz” could have been cool, but it is $60-70k. Already discounted by the way at this dealer. That is what you want, your hot new model being discounted already. Even if it was a PHEV/REV, it is still a lot of coin for a smallish minivan, no matter how cool looking it is.
VW seems to be living up the the chaotic and unorganized part of the ID.
Ah, Volkswagen. How far you’ve fallen. With you officially axing the stick in the GTI, there are exactly zero vehicles in which I have interest on your lots.
There’s a dealer a half mile from my house with a couple ID.Buzzes sitting out front. I continue to completely nonplussed and whelmed when I gaze upon them. One of them is all white, which is somehow even worse than the two-tone models.
Anywho, I have no recollection of how I came into possession of it, but as a kid I used to listen to Bruce’s album of covers. Under The Boardwalk, Secret Asian…er…Agent Man, etc. I’d rather listen to that album again than buy a modern VW, that’s a certainty.
Maybe VW should replace the ID4 with the ID6 – if they can sell it for roughly the same.
VW needs to replace the Passat with the Arteon, unchanged. Just slap Passat badges on the Arteon. That was their one good looking vehicle and they took it away.
Americans want good sedans. While I’m saddened by the slow demise of sedans (even moreso wagons), I do feel like what’s left in the sedan market are the cream of the crop and it’s mainly been the second rate cars that bit the dust.
What should VW’s next product be in the United States?
e-Golf with NACS
Been waiting all week to the official MH endorsement! GO BIRDS!!!
VW should sell three different sizes of station wagons . . . Something like a Mazda Protege5 on the small end, the last SportWagen that was sold in the U.S. market in the middle, and something that would fit the B-52’s description of their Chrysler in “Love Shack.”
I mean why not, sales can’t be any worse. And at least they’d be different.
What should VW sell next in the US? Contract with Mercedes Benz to make Sprinter vans with VW badges (i.e. the Crafter) but sell them exclusively as Westfalia Campers in 4×4 format. Basically a giant Vanagon Syncro Westfalia, which incidentally are still selling at eye-watering prices. Offer it in the mini-wheelbase version and the proper 170″ wheelbase version. Offer all the locking differential, transfer case stuff that makes it appeal to the overland crowd and differentiate it from the Winnebago Revel group. Use assembly-line mass production to sell it at half of what the upfitter conversion companies are offering.
I know it’s splitting hairs, but the Crafter and the Sprinter got separated a few years ago. (And VW has a camper based on the Crafter, called Grand California, but it’s not very off-roady:
https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/new-vehicles/grand-california.html )
You are 100% correct. The Crafter is no longer a rebadged MB product. But VW seems to have no shame rebadging other manufacturers trucks (Chrysler minivan and Ford Ranger) so it might make sense to avoid the existing (let alone future) tariffs to realign with MB.
The Grand California is not in the spirit of the Vanagon Syncro which was a proper off-road vehicle.
The new Crafters are twinned with the Ford Transit….
With the exception of the ID.Buzz (awful, awful naming convention), the ID cars are too ugly to also be as bland as they are. It’s kind of a neat trick.
Anyway, VW’s next product in the US should be a plug-in hybrid Atlas. I know that’s a boring answer, but a high efficiency version of their top seller would print money and could also serve as a gateway drug to their EVs by getting people used to charging stations without the stress of needing a charging station.
What should VW’s next product be in the United States?
UP! GTI for $18k
VW Golf.
Sirocco GTI (but it would be more, alas)
I’m just here to say Electrify America sucks! We have 2 more months of free charging on our ioniq 5 and it’s a such a nightmare my wife refuses to charge the car.
I’ll be so happy when ’80s actor week is over.
All I have to say is everyone but me is stupid and while our auto writers write goodly they have no concept of economics or business.
Very demure.
the only product VW makes that is vaguely interesting is/was the ID Buzz. but the price and the revised styling choices kind of kill it for me. the Meh range is also a huge problem for me. I did like my old 2.5 Passat back in the day, but it was an inexpensive and reliable enough midsize sedan and honestly VW no longer fields anything that checks those boxes. I suppose I would not turn down a Taycan though. That is probably the only Electric VW I might consider.
What should VW’s next product be in the US? Man, my crystal ball is out at the shop for its yearly polishing, and my Magic 8-ball is now the shift knob in some dude’s Ram, so I don’t have a great answer. Build the Amorok in the US? Maybe. Let’s see, they partnered with Dodge on the Routan, perhaps rebrand the Amorok at the next Dakota?
Amarok is twinned with the Ford Ranger. So…not impossible.
What should VW’s next product be in the United States?
I want a 2 door Polo EV or Plug-In Hybrid.
Not a GTI
Not a 4 door.
Not as large as the current Golf/GTI
So VW should offer 2 door and 4 door Polo EVs and Plug-in Hybrids
“It rushed to make electric cars and assumed everyone would just buy what they had to offer, even if what they had to offer wasn’t really competitive with the class-leading cars from Tesla”
This is the classic attitude toward BEVs legacy automakers have. They think “BEVs are all the same”… so making them good or competitive doesn’t matter.
“What should VW’s next product be in the United States?”
I think they should have a small 4 door pickup truck to compete against the Maverick. And call it the Caddy, Doka or Taro.
They actually kind of need to get the Scout ready sooner than later I think.
I was thinking more along the lines of a VW-branded product. But yeah, if they do it right, Scout has the potential to be a profitable hit.
I’m sure the SuperBowl ads will pay off for Stellantis. They really seem to have things figured out over there. I’m sure they know something that all the successful auto brands are missing.
Just bring over the Amorok with hybrid and diesel options, price it competitively and call it a day.
The current one is but a Ford Ranger wearing VW badges and small tweaks over all. No point in importing them due to the chicken tax, and unless they can get Ford to build them alongside the Ranger and Bronco in Michigan it’s not going to happen.
Ok fine. Then bring the California with hybrid and diesel options. And a pickup bed option. They already have history with the Doka so it would fall in line with their history. Along with the camper option I think it would sell.
The next Transporter/Multivan on which the California is based is also a Transit Custom. Which probably rules out the California…
I’d love some diesel offering from them, but dieselgate is seemingly the end of VWs with diesels
“I am in an Old Testament mood this morning and, in particular, I feel very motivated by the King James Version of Proverbs. People think this version of the Bible was written by William Shakespeare. It probably wasn’t, but the language was definitely inspired by the same poetic style that permeates the Bard’s writing.”
I can’t say if Shakespeare had anything to do with the Bible but I can say King James was a fucking lunatic:
“In 1597 James became the only monarch in history to publish a treatise on witchcraft: Daemonologie (literally, ‘the science of demons’) was the result of painstaking and meticulous work on James’s part and must have taken years to complete. As well as to convince the doubters of the existence of witchcraft, the purpose of Daemonologie was to inspire those who persecuted witches with new vigour and determination. James described witchcraft as “high treason against God”, which meant that all manner of horrors were justified in wringing confessions from the accused.
The fact that the treatise had been written by a king made it enormously influential. It is no coincidence that cases of witchcraft multiplied at an alarming rate in his kingdom thereafter.”
About 100,000 people were “put on trial” (tortured) with about half put to death because of this lunacy.
If anything I think you have it backwards. Shakespeare, like many other writers of this time wrote witch porn to please this very dangerous witch obsessed king:
“How Shakespeare’s Macbeth was influenced by King James’s witch hunts
But the most famous of all the literary works inspired by witchcraft, winning widespread acclaim in its day and ever since, was William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Deliberately short in length (James was known to have little patience for sitting through long plays), it is significant that the occasion of its inaugural performance was a visit by Queen Anne’s brother, the king of Denmark, in 1606, given that it was James’s voyage to his wife’s native land that had prompted his obsession with witchcraft.”
https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/shakespeares-macbeth-and-king-jamess-witch-hunts/
As you might expect King James also had a very heavy hand in the editing of the version of the Bible that he paid for and which bears his name. That kinda puts a different spin on things don’tcha think?
I mean, it’s not at all surprising, in the least. It’s deeply fascinating.
Such a superstitious, stupid people. Globally, other cultures who didn’t plunge themselves into a “dark ages” had noted that Europe was a land filled with unsophisticated zealots without libraries, science, or mathematics.
That’s how I feel about today’s so-called “christians”; at least those in the past have the excuse of, you know, living in a time of no literacy or science, I don’t know what their excuse could be today.
Ergot might have been a factor.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/Mind_and_Spirit/ergot.shtml
Interesting. Kinda like how tetraethyl lead is responsible for *gestures around*
Yep. Something to keep in mind when reading the Bible too.