Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN.......

1134 Views 16 Replies 11 Participants Last post by [email protected], Dec 2, 2001

Stringztoo

Discussion Starter · Dec 2, 2001

I'm all psyched up for the Central Florida Auto show. I get there, and they make you enter right in the middle of "Domestic Car U.S.A." You walk into the whole Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge sections and the Japanese cars are on one side, and the few European cars are on the other side.
Way, way, way in the far back right hand corner is the VW display. Do they have a big neon sign? No. Do they have a large platform to show a new model? No. Do they have a new model ANYWHERE? No. I look at the cars there, (2 Jettas, 2 Passats, 1 Cabrio, 1 Golf, 1 GTI, and 1 EuroVan.)
I walk around and look at the cars that are there, then decide I had a few questions about the MicroBus, the D1, etc. I walk up to someone in a coat and when they turn around, they have a Royal Volswagen business card on their lapel. Low-and-behold... it's a salesman! Volkswagen didn't even send a representative of theirs to the show. All that was there was 8 new VW's and salesmen trying to get me into their local showrooms when I started asking questions.
If you go, I suggest the Caddy booth (CTS), the Lexus booth (IS300 L-Tuned), the BMW booth (M5), and the Subaru booth (WRX STi).
Don't expect a very good foreign car selection. There was no Mercedes Benz, no Volvo, no Audi, no Hummer (I know it's American)..... but at least Saturn had almost 20 cars there.....

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

ConfesS4

· #2 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

damn man I can have a better car show in my garage

See less See more

Jman5000

· #3 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

Why's that dropping the ball? That's good business sense.
Outsource the staffing of the show to the locals. It's not the Detroit or LA show, the traffic and press isn't a tenth of the "big" shows, so why add the overhead?
And the booth/display area was most likely not their choice. Most major industry trade show floor plans are not left up to the attendees...otherwise there'd never be one w/everyone fighting for the "center".

what

· #4 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Jman5000)

quote:[HR][/HR]Why's that dropping the ball? That's good business sense.

Outsource the staffing of the show to the locals. It's not the Detroit or LA show, the traffic and press isn't a tenth of the "big" shows, so why add the overhead?

And the booth/display area was most likely not their choice. Most major industry trade show floor plans are not left up to the attendees...otherwise there'd never be one w/everyone fighting for the "center".[HR][/HR]

at the LA show, porsche always has their own hall

See less See more

HaterOfHondas

· #5 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (what)

yeah i went to the tampa international auto show last year and it sucked..(well the vw part) they really dont put much thought into there displays.. yes i would say they dropped the ball... the only good thing they had last year was a beatle cup race car....

[Modified by HaterOfHondas, 2:52 AM 12-2-2001]

See less See more

[email protected]

· #6 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (HaterOfHondas)

If you want to see a real VW presence at a automobile show, then you need to buy an airplane ticket. http://www.iaa.de
There will however be a pretty good presence at the Detroit show coming up in January because they plan to debut a couple of things there.

[email protected]

· #7 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Verruckt)

Hey guys, besides LA, Detroit, NYC and Chicago, the other US autoshows are organized and represented by local dealers. The manufacturers take part in the shows I listed above. It is a dealer's responsibility to handle the others (this is the case for most auto manufacturers). Just FYI.

Stringztoo

Discussion Starter · #8 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Jman5000)

Good business sense?!?
They must have just called the dealers and said, "bring some cars with ya". If I knew nothing about VW's, I'd think they didn't have anything in the works worth telling people about. Hell, Saturn had 20 cars... even Kia and Daewoo had more cars than VW.
And it was their choice about the layout. I asked the guy at Lexus, (who was on the design team of the SC430), and the companies are open to submit their cars and their personell, (i.e. Caddy and Lexus), so VW didn't go above and beyond at all for the show.....
Needless to say, I was diappointed.

See less See more

Stringztoo

Discussion Starter · #9 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

That being said why would dealerships have prototypes and non-production vehicles?

Jason_R

· #10 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

That is why I never go to that show. Its in ORLANDO, this isn't Detroit or Los Angeles. Get used to it, when you live in a metropolitan area that can barely say it holds 1.5M people, you're not going to get much attention.
That's what most car makers do at that show. I never go anymore, its trash. Of course, if they had to send a dealer, they could've at least sent one of the good local ones, i.e. Aristocrat. Royal sucks.

See less See more

Satchriani

· #11 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (what)

quote:[HR][/HR]
at the LA show, porsche always has their own hall

[HR][/HR]

Porsche has the most AMAZING setup and display at the LA show....it's a total drool-fest! It's really an experience in itself!

See less See more

Jason_R

· #12 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

DUDE, we live in ORLANDO!
We live in a tiny hick town based on TOURISM. You're not gonna get attention, they don't care about you! or me! unless you live in New York, Los Angeles.. etc.
Get over it, I mean seriously, what did you expect?

Stringztoo

Discussion Starter · #13 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Jason_R)

QUOTE____________________________________

Get over it, I mean seriously, what did you expect?
______________________________________________

Well, I expected the D1, the MicroBus, the Dodge Hemi, the Ford 49, The Jeep Jeepster, A Mercedes Benz section , etc.........

[Modified by Stringztoo, 10:47 PM 12-1-2001]

Asperi

· #14 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

its all about the Geneva motor show!!
and Detroit in the USa of course.

Jason_R

· #15 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

I say again, YOU LIVE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA, USA. POPULATION 1.5 Million.
THAT IS NOTHING. WE GET NO ATTENTION BECAUSE OF THAT. Go see a real show and stop wasting your time and money (if you actually spent money to go see this) on this local trash.

deadjetta

· #16 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (Stringztoo)

i went for my school newspaper, the show would be great if you wanted to go car shopping, all the dealerships were there, you have to find humor in the VW section they completly crapped on the show and audi didnt even bother to show up, even though they were on the flags out in the lobby, VW wasnt but audi was. the way i see it VW was being nice and said allright and called up Classic VW and said Put a few cars there, even though i did take note that the cars came from aristocrat, or so i have been led to believe, because a couple of them had the 13 <degree mark> and i asked about that when i saw it on my car and a sales man at aristocrat told me that it was a mark that their best service guy put on the cars, after he checks them out when they get there, i dont know if thats true, but eh im off subject. They did have a TDI Jetta Wagon, and NO-ONE was looking at it, i mean no one besides me and adam, we were drooling over it, and sitting it for a while mind you, i soooo love that car not the TDI but as a tubro ahhh the wagon is the way to go. the only highlights of that "show" was that one Riced up Lexus, which i hated, and well i guess the BMW section was ok. besides that nothing good, it was funny thou you have to give it high marks for humor, it was funny. the only thing that really let me down was the wood working was closed when i got there, it seemed to have been more fun looking than the Car show

quote:[HR][/HR]I'm all psyched up for the Central Florida Auto show. I get there, and they make you enter right in the middle of "Domestic Car U.S.A." You walk into the whole Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge sections and the Japanese cars are on one side, and the few European cars are on the other side.
Way, way, way in the far back right hand corner is the VW display. Do they have a big neon sign? No. Do they have a large platform to show a new model? No. Do they have a new model ANYWHERE? No. I look at the cars there, (2 Jettas, 2 Passats, 1 Cabrio, 1 Golf, 1 GTI, and 1 EuroVan.)
I walk around and look at the cars that are there, then decide I had a few questions about the MicroBus, the D1, etc. I walk up to someone in a coat and when they turn around, they have a Royal Volswagen business card on their lapel. Low-and-behold... it's a salesman! Volkswagen didn't even send a representative of theirs to the show. All that was there was 8 new VW's and salesmen trying to get me into their local showrooms when I started asking questions.
If you go, I suggest the Caddy booth (CTS), the Lexus booth (IS300 L-Tuned), the BMW booth (M5), and the Subaru booth (WRX STi).
Don't expect a very good foreign car selection. There was no Mercedes Benz, no Volvo, no Audi, no Hummer (I know it's American)..... but at least Saturn had almost 20 cars there.....[HR][/HR]

[Modified by deadjetta, 3:09 AM 12-2-2001]

See less See more

[email protected]

· #17 · Dec 2, 2001

Re: Volkswagen drops the ball AGAIN....... (deadjetta)

That's a total assumption to what happened BTW. Like I said, the dealers determine how strong a showing to have. I lived in Harrisburg PA for a couple of years and visited the auto show for all of those years. Several times, VW and Audi wasn't even there as the dealer didn't have the money to take part. This is policy for most manufacturers. If Lexus and others did it differently, that may be. It may make more sense for VW to consider doing it differently in the future too, but I can tell you that the dealer usually controls the presence for most manufacturers. They get concepts and prototypes on loan from the manufacturer...usually last year's.
Someone mentioned the Ford 49 or the D1. Difference there is that the 49 is a domestic concept. For VW to have the D1 at the Orlando show, they'd have had to airfreight a multi-million dollar concept from Wolfsburg to Orlando. That just doesn't make fiscal sense.
Ford probably has a truck that moves last years concepts from all of their brands around the country.

See less See more

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.