Bubba-SanŽ

First they announce a VW luxury car (not yet produced) to compete (yeah right!) with Mercedes S class and BMW 7 series, and presumably with Audi A8.

Then they create the Passat 4-motion which is actually quattro.

This week they announce a Passat with a 3.7 litre 280hp W8 engine! (see AutoWeek this week)

And now its a new A4 that looks like a Jetta.

Does VW even know what Volkswagen means? (peoples' car) After spending so much in engineering, marketing, and racing to elevate Audi to where it is now mentioned with the BMW and Mercedes premium German brands, why are they not content with making VW the best affordable brand instead of sending out mixed signals?

Clathrate

...and the Passat is now the #1 car in its class according to consumer reports. You start putting more and more little goodies in VW cars, and soon you wonder why you should pay more for an Audi. The Passat with quattro is basically an A4 now...(the A4 looks better, though).

Maybe they'll play the duplication game: identical cars with different logos...

Mark Dean 2

In a word, Yes.

Brett G (old)

I've never put much faith in consumer reports.

Bubba-SanŽ

And just changing the badge won't cut it. At the very least you need different styles.

GM once understood that but now are all over the map. Daimler-Chrysler screwed it up, that's why they are dropping Plymouth. Not surprisingly, they are trying not to associate Chrysler and Mercedes in any way. Ford is getting it right with Lincoln and Volvo, but they really need a premium sporting brand in the U.S. I expect Ford to drop Mercury soon and make an all-out push for BMW. (if their stock recovers from the Firestone debacle)

VW has it about right now with VW (entry level), Seat in Europe and VW in US (family), Audi (premium sporting), Bugatti (mega luxury), and Lamborghini (mega sporting). They have also emphasized quality and innovation throughout all the lines. I guess the temptation is just too high. They have to mess it up.

NickS

If VW makes a Corrado replacement, I'M THERE!!!

George @ BostonAudi

I read somewhere that VW will have the luxury cars, Audi the "drivers" cars.

Clathrate

...and don't forget that a lot of the data comes from consumers themselves, who send in their little surveys. Motor Trend, Car&Driver, etc. have paid advertisers who will threaten to pull ads if their cars are badly bashed by a reviewer. Also, CR buys the cars from the lots, as opposed to other magazine and newspaper reviewers who have cars loaned to them (nice little perk, especially if you always give good reviews, if you know what I mean).

RocketJohn

were you that impressed with the quality of the last one? hehe No more FWD, Nick! Q all the way!

Lone Starr (Ivan)

I thought it was a crack-induced statement as well. So Audi is competing against whom? BMW? It would seem so. S4 was obviously brought to the US as an M3 competer.

Please correct me if I have the name wrong.

I