The Heart Failure of America

That's today's Chevrolet.

The 2024 model year, which is winding down at the time in preparation for the new model year starting in the fall, is the last model year for two iconic cars that have in part symbolized the Chevrolet brand for most of my life.  The Camaro 2 + 2 sports coupe, above, and the Malibu intermediate sedan, below, are being discontinued as more and more motor-vehicle buyers in These States - and, let's confess, just about everywhere else on this planet as well - are flocking to sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.  Starting in September, the only "regular" car Chevrolet will offer is the Corvette.

And that "regular" model has a middle-mounted engine and no rear seat.     

Of course, Mary Barra, the CEO of Chevrolet's parent company General Motors, will say that the phase-out of these internal-combustion vehicles is part of GM's push for more electric vehicles, but, as with virtually every other automaker you can name, this new generation of electric cars is mostly centered on EUVs - sport utility vehicles without the gas-powered motor and, thus, without the guilt.  (And for good reason, I suppose; today on the road, I saw two Rivian SUVs in traffic, bumper-to-bumper with each other.)  Except that the worse aerodynamics of an EUV will make those electric motors work harder and make them less energy-efficient, the size and scale of said vehicles require more power and more raw material to produce them,  and they're not very enjoyable to drive - no more than a utility wagon with a gas-powered engine under the hood.  Oh, sure, there will be some electric subcompacts available.  But with the electric Bolt models gone, just don't expect to find such vehicles at your Chevy dealer.

Chevrolet is only doing what it can to remain competitive, though, as it needs to give the people what they want - or, rather, what they think they want.  Part of the reasons so many Americans keep buying SUVs, even these Americans who had never bought one before, is because they don't know about whatever else there may be.  When was the last time you saw a television commercial for a Camaro or a Malibu?  I can't answer that question.  But I can certainly recall seeing a Chevrolet commercial for an SUV as late as last week.  And I've lost count of all the times I've seen those darn Chevrolet pickup-truck commercials starring Walter, the cat who thinks he's a dog.  

Oh, well, if you're going to by an SUV of any sort, buy American.  Which is why I recommend that you buy a Volkswagen Atlas.  Because that SUV ain't German - it's made in Tennessee, it's designed for Americans, and it has all of the characteristics of a Ford Explorer or a Chevrolet Traverse, including extra bulk.  The same could be said of the European-built Tiguan and the Mexican-built Taos.  All of these monster wagons have followed the rule former Volkswagen AG chairman Herbert Diess set for VW in the States - which is, appeal to American tastes and not so much Americans with European tastes, the latter being the very people that made Volkswagen a permanent presence in the U.S. market in the first place.  

As I write this, I am having the fraying cover upholstery on the driver's seat of my 2012 Golf replaced at my VW dealer.  Having already had broken and warped exterior trim already replaced earlier this spring,  I will have had my car restored to showroom condition or something close to it once the seat cover is redone.  Because the only new car I want is my old car, refurbished to look and feel new again.  I had hoped to get another base Golf as my next car. When VW decided that the eighth generation of the Golf would not have a two-door model, I was okay with the fact that I wouldn't be able to buy a new car exactly like my old one.  When Volkswagen of America, however, confirmed that the eighth generation of the Golf would only be available in the United States as a GTI and an R - the cheapest GTI being five grand more than a base Mark 8 Golf would have cost - it immediately became apparent that I wouldn't even be able to buy a new car remotely like my old one. So if you have a Chevrolet Malibu and you want a new car just like your old one, get to your Chevy dealer hence, because once their 2024 Malibus are gone, there will be no more Malibus for 2025.   

And no, I will never buy a Volkswagen made with American tastes in mind.  Because the last time VW offered a car like that, it felt like a Chevrolet.

A Malibu.

Volkswagen of America For 2024

 In a word, this is pathetic.

Officially,  Volkswagen's U.S. lineup is down to ten models with half of them being sport utility vehicles. (Various trim levels inflate the number of models to sixteen.)  In reality, it's down to eight models with five of them being SUVs, because the Web page counts the Jetta twice - once for the base model and again for the GLI - and also counts the Golf twice - once for the GTI and again for the R, with - of course - no base Golf for Americans anymore. 

This is Volkswagen's weakest U.S. lineup in over thirty years.  And the European character of the brand - small, economical, taut ride, sophisticated handling - has mostly been watered down in pursuit of the objective Herbert Diess set for the U.S. before he stepped down as CEO of Volkswagen AG - to sell American-style vehicles to VW's American customer base.  As a result, five out of six VWs sold in the States are SUVs.  This is and remains a slap in the face to loyal American VW customers who bought Volkswagens for decades simply and primarily because they were not American-style vehicles - because they specifically were the sort of fun compact runabouts you'd see in pictures of Parisian or Roman streetscapes. 

Yes, Europe has Volkswagen SUV models we don't get, but more importantly, Europeans get the base Golf, the Polo, the ID.3, four station wagons, and a choice of vans ranging from the Touran to the Transporter.  No up! anymore, Volkswagen upped! the last one from its factory this past October.  (I'll elaborate on that in a later post.)  But the European Volkswagen customer still has twice as many choices as the American customer, even though they don't have the Jetta anymore.  But Europeans, never big fans of trunks, hardly miss it.

Bad, bad, very bad.

Well, not entirely.  There are bright spots in Volkswagen of America's future.  The ID. Buzz is coming soon, and Volkswagen's first van for this market in over a decade will soon be followed by the midsize ID.7 sedan, an ostensible replacement for the Passat.  But if you want the sort of small, compact, no-nonsense car that the Beetle or the Golf had always been, you're either going to have to buy a late-model Golf or modern Beetle used or get a new Jetta before VW gives up on that model as well.  Me, I'm going to keep my base Mark 6 Golf, now soldiering into its thirteenth year (the longest I've ever owned a car), on the road for as long as I can.