Skip to main content

Volkswagen Trying To Lure Customers Back With 6-Year/72,000-Mile Warranties On Most 2018 Models

By

In the wake of the still-lingering Dieselgate scandal, which has cost Volkswagen billions of dollars and left a smog-colored stain on its reputation, the carmarker is hoping to turn schadenfreude into fahrvergnügen* by having a warranty on many of its new vehicles that lasts twice as long as the standard warranty you’d find on most cars in the U.S.

VW had previously announced that the upcoming 2018 Atlas and Tiquan vehicles would get the 6-year/72,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, but today the company said that several additional 2018 VW models will also come with this extended coverage.

According to the company, the following will now all be covered by the longer warranty: Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Golf, Golf Alltrack, Golf GTI, Golf R, Golf SportWagen, Jetta, and Passat.

Because not everyone owns a car for six years before reselling it, Volkswagen is making this warranty transferrable. So if you sell your 2018 Beetle in 2022, the new owner still has about two years (or whatever remains of the 72,000 mile cap) of warranty coverage left.

The apparent hope behind the 6-year warranty is that the additional years and miles of coverage will give car-buyers the sense that VW is willing to stand behind the quality of its vehicles. That’s a turnaround in image the company needs following the Dieselgate scandal, in which the car company was alleged to have deliberately modified its “clean diesel” line of vehicles so that they would pass emissions tests in a garage but emit potentially dangerous levels of toxins while driving on the road.

But even before Dieselgate, VW’s U.S. business was on a downward trend. In 2016, VW sales were down nearly 8% from the year before, and down more than 25% from their all-time high in 2014. The company’s U.S. marketshare has also dropped to three-quarters of what it once was. Things have turned around more recently, with the latest year-to-date U.S. sales up about 6% over where they were a year ago.

Given Volkswagen’s rather small marketshare in the U.S., many Americans may not realize that VW is the second-largest (or largest; it depends on how one counts these things) car company in the world, moving more than 10 million vehicles in 2016.

VW has previously expressed its aim of chiseling away at the U.S. market, where it not only lags behind fellow mega-manufacturers like General Motors, Ford, and Toyota, but also has less of a presence stateside than smaller competitors like Subaru, Kia, and Hyundai.

Speaking of Hyundai, it has long touting itself as having the best standard warranty in the U.S. at 5 years or 60,000 miles, which looks like it will soon be surpassed by the VW warranty. However, Hyundai has scheduled a press event for Oct. 10, where some expect that the carmaker will announce improvements to make its warranty more attractive to American customers.

*(Yes, we know that doesn’t really make sense, but it sounds like it should.)


by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chrysler Deletes Its Dating Apps, Decides To Remain Single For Now

By
They say you can’t have a healthy relationship until you’re happy with yourself. That appears to be the new mantra for Fiat Chrysler: After several attempts to woo General Motors and more recently Volkswagen , the carmaker’s top executive says he plans to ditch his lovelorn ways to concentrate on his company’s bottom line.  Bloomberg reports that CEO Sergio Marchionne has turned his focus to eliminating FCA’s debt rather than eliminating its single status. Marchionne has set a goal of erasing FCA’s debt by 2019, the same year he’s set to retire. To do that, he says the company needs to do a little work on itself. “We need to be very careful that we don’t start unrealistic dreams about consolidation as we are on our way to achieve historically important results and a debt-free position,” Marchionne told investors at the carmaker’s annual meeting in Amsterdam, as reported by Bloomberg. “We are not at a point of time to discuss any alliance.” Yes, you heard that right: The man w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Study Claims 43% Of “Wild” Salmon In Stores & Restaurants Isn’t Wild At All

By
That wild salmon entrée calling to you from the menu at dinner might not be all it’s advertised. In fact a new study released Wednesday found evidence of mislabeling in nearly half of all salmon sold in restaurants and grocery stores.  The study [ PDF ] from international environmental advocacy group, Oceana, analyzed 82 salmon samples from restaurants and grocery stores, finding that 43% of the products were mislabeled. DNA testing confirmed that 69% of the mislabeled product consisted of farmed Atlantic salmon being sold as wild-caught product. According to the report, consumers satisfying their salmon craving in restaurants are misled about 67% of the time, while those who buy their seafood in a grocery store are misled 20% of the time. “Americans might love salmon, but as our study reveals, they may be falling victim to a bait and switch,” Beth Lowell, senior campaign director at Oceana, said . “When consumers opt for wild-caught U.S. salmon, they don’t expect to get a far...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Biology (IX Biology Notes Chapter 01)

By
Science: Our universe operates under certain principles. For understanding of these principles, the experiments are done and observations are made; on the basis of which logical conclusions are drawn. Such a study is called "Science". In brief science is the knowledge based on experiments and observations. Biology: The Scientific study of living organisms is called Biology. The word biology is derived from two Greek words "bios" meaning life and "logos" meaning thought, discourse, reasoning or study. It means that all aspects of life and every type of living organism are discussed in biology. Branches of Biology: Biology is divided into following branches: Morphology The study of form and structure of living organisms is called morphology. It can be further divided into following two parts: 1. The study of external parts of living organism is called external morphology. 2. The study of internal parts of living organism is calle...
Post a Comment
Read more