Maybe They Ought to Change the Name

“Volkswagen” – as most people know – is German for the people’s car. A car for everyone, basically. The company – and the car – was conceived as Germany’s version of Ford and his car. The Fuhrer greatly admired Henry Ford, who was the first to build (Ford’s words) “a car for the great multitude” – aka, the people.

The Beetle – VW’s first and for a long time eponymous car – was in many ways a superior car relative to Ford’s Model T. It featured unibody construction, which improves torsional stiffness and reduces manufacturing costs. Its ingenious air-cooled engine didn’t need a radiator or coolant and – by mounting it over the (rear) drive wheels, traction was excellent. The take-home point, though, is that while the Beetle was a very different car in comparison with the Model T, it was also very similar in that both cars were designed for the people. They were a counterpoint to the idea that only affluent people should own private motorcars, which was the case in both countries before the advent of these people’s cars.

Well, that’s all changed – though the name (VW) remains the same.

Just the other day, VW announced it would be unemploying 50,000 people and “consolidating its global model lineup and implementing cost controls to improve its margins,” meaning make more money selling fewer but more expensive cars. This is the business model of an affluent people’s car company.

Interestingly, VW has tried this once before. It did not go well. You may remember. Back in the early 2000s, VW introduced a car called the Phaeton, which was a VW in name only. Which – interestingly – is why it didn’t sell. The Phaeton was an Audi in everything but name, which was problematic because the people generally cannot afford Audis, which are luxury-priced cars. The Phaeton was especially so. Its base price – in the early 2000s, mind – was $64,600 and from there it soared to $94,600 but at least back then you got a standard V8 engine, with the high-end iterations boasting a W12, which was you got in a top-of-the-line Audi A8 sedan. That’s basically what the Phaeton was, except it carried the VW badge. As it turned out most of the affluent people who can afford a high-end Audi were not interested in a high-priced VW, even if the latter wa basically a high-end Audi. Affluent people buy status – and a people’s car lacks that. It is astounding VW’s executives did not get that. They actually thought they could sell the Phaeton at VW stores, which is something like thinking you can sell wagyu steaks (at top dollar) at McDonald’s.

On the other side of things, the people who could afford VWs could not afford Audi-priced VWs. The result was that the people who may have wanted a car like the Phaeton could not afford it while the affluent people who could afford it did not want it. The predictable result of that was the Phaeton flopped.

VW went back to selling people’s cars for awhile and was selling lots of them, which meant it wasn’t necessary to “improve margins.” If you make a $10 profit each on a quarter-million $100 sales, you end up with more profit than if you made $20 profit each on 10,000 sales. Henry Ford understood this. The Fuhrer did also. Both men – interestingly – wanted the people to have cars. Making money was of course part of that but it wasn’t only that. Once upon a time. you had a great industrialist and a great politician who wanted to improve the lot of their people. Of the great multitude.  Imagine that. It is something very hard to imagine now. Almost everything imaginable is being done by corporations (a thing distinct from industrialists) and politicians to worsen the lot of the great multitude, especially as it pertains to cars.

VW stopped selling people’s cars about ten years ago.

That was when it decided not to fight for the people by defending its diesel-powered people’s cars, which were not darkening the skies with soot. They were so clean, in fact, that it was not uncommon for people who couldn’t tell they were diesel-powered to pump gas into them. This happened to a VW press car I was scheduled to get; the delivery driver – not realizing it was a diesel-powered vehicle – put a few gallons of unleaded in before he realize his mistake.

It took laboratory equipment and an Inspector Javert-like determination to find something to  . . .  find something. Something was eventually found. It was a trivially slight uptick in NOx (oxides of nitrogen) emissions during wide-open-throttle operation. It meant nothing in terms of actual harm caused but it was framed as something akin to Auschwitz and gas chambers.

VW wilted before the incandescence of the accusations and it has been downhill for the company ever since.

The attempt to peddle affluent people’s cars – especially EVs, such as the ID Buzz – have led to declining sales and too much overhead. Hence the unemployed 50,000. But instead of recognizing it is driving down a dead-end street, VW is embracing its new identity as (it hopes) an affluent people’s car.

“The Supervisory Board received a thorough briefing on the transformation concept developed by the Executive Board,” said Hans Dieter Pötsch, who is the chairman of said Supervisory Board. “As the Supervisory Board, we are convinced that implementation of the Future Plan will secure the long-term viability and competitiveness of the Volkswagen Group.”

Perhaps it is time to change the name to reflect the new identity.

Vermögendwagen, perhaps? It is German for wealthy people’s car – and the beauty of the thing is the acronym would stay the same. “VW” would not even have to change the signage to reflect the new reality. 

But the waiting room at the dealership is going to need a remodeling.

. . .

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos. 

We depend on you to keep the wheels turning! 

Our donate button is here. 

 If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is: EPautos 721 Hummingbird Lane SE Copper Hill, VA 24079

PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $25 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!) If you’d like a Baaaaa hat or other EPautos gear, see here!