Streamlining post-Dieselgate may see these two “emotional” models get canned.
Say ‘Volkswagen,’ and it would be impossible for you to not think of the Beetle. For performance fans, the VW badge is ubiquitous with the Scirocco nameplate, which has been around since 1974 (with a brief hiatus between 1992 and 2008). Both of these cars, darlings in the lineup, may not see their way into a new generation though, if comments made at VW’s annual meeting are anything to go by.
The question of renewing or replacing models was levelled at the VW board at the meeting, and naturally the Beetle and Scirocco were brought up. On the matter, VW brand board member Arno Arlitz replied that “the Beetle and Scirocco are representatives of an emotional and appealing class of vehicles. But, it is not always about continuing cars from one generation to the next.”
Slow sales is the main reason why these two models may not be renewed to a new generation, with the Beetle only managing 25,127 sales worldwide last year. The Scirocco did worse, with only 10,752 changing hands in 2016. To put that into perspective, the Golf sold in better numbers in January 2017 than those two models combined.
With that in mind, Anlitz commented that models like the impending ID electric vehicles and the Arteon luxury saloon should fill the gap left behind by the desirable Beetle and Scirocco, though we can’t really see how either will be a direct replacement.
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