VW Run Amarok

Somewhere along the way, the presidency of Volkswagen of America became a revolving door.  And so, apparently, did Volkswagen of America's priorities for its product lineup.

Volkswagen AG announced a "major overhaul" in both leadership and product planning.  Kjell Gruner s out as president of Volkswagen of America, and a fellow named Marco Schubert - not to be confused with American swimming-team coach Mark Schubert - is taking his place.  Gone are the days when a Volkswagen of America president could last for over a decade like the late, great Stuart Perkins, who took over from his mentor Carl Hahn in 1965 as the Beetle was about to peak and oversaw the introduction of VW's watercooled cars in 1975.  Gruner had only been the leader of Volkswagen of America since December 2024.

The product lineup plans Schubert plans to pursue per the desires of Wolfsburg brass are even ominous.  VW wants to add a pickup to the North American lineup, like the Amarok model (below).  It will likely be built in VW's Tennessee factory.

We likely won't get the Amarok itself.  We might get something even uglier.  There are rumors of a joint venture on a pickup truck between VW and Ford.  Not good.  Ford pickups are hideous.  

As if that weren't bad enough, VW wants to add a full-size SUV.  To respond to the inevitable point that VW already has the Atlas, the company wants something even bigger.  So not good.

Left unmentioned was whether the base Golf will still be re-introduced to the U.S. and Canada once production of the eighth-generation Golf begins in Mexico.  Also left unmentioned was whether the Jetta - the current generation of which is entering its ninth model year this fall - will continue.  Gruner said that both cars represent the soul of Volkswagen for VW enthusiasts, and I would add that the Jetta has been one of the bestselling European cars in the United States for decades.  It is as yet unclear whether Schubert is simpatico with Gruner's position.  Gruner's position no longer matters; he is leaving the company completely.  

If there's any silver lining in this development (and I'm stretching it here), it's that Schubert is coming over from Audi, a VW division that never forgot how to make performance cars, so he might actually favor the gambit to keep the Golf and the Jetta in the North American lineup and bring back the base Golf model.  Just don't ask Marco for a Polo (which has gone electric, the new ID version having just gone on sale in Europe), or any other model true to Volkswagen's heritage, because the brand is undoubtedly doubling down on a strategy to Americanize the brand to pander to American tastes to increase its American market share.  

This is the worst watering down of Volkswagen in the U.S. since 1978, when VW's Westmoreland factory in Pennsylvania began producing "Malibunnies" - Rabbits so Americanized in terms of trim and performance that it had more in common with the Chevrolet Malibu than with Golfs back in Europe.  If Volkswagen keeps going down this path, it won't be Volkswagen anymore.  Not in the New World, anyway.

El Ocho Vocho

I speculated earlier that the eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf, unavailable in base form in the United States and Canada and unavailable in any form in Mexico, might be available in base form in the New World once VW's Mexican factory in Puebla took over production of the venerable hatchback from the home factory in Wolfsburg.  Volkswagen of America president Kjell Gruner spoke on that possibility for the first time ever this past week.

Gruner has become aware that Americans have been asking for more variations of the Golf because the high-performance GTI and R editions are increasingly out of reach - a far cry from the more affordable Golf that Americans remember debuting in 1975 in the States as the Rabbit, when it only cost $2,999 - $18,564 in today's dollars.  The entry-level GTI currently starts at twice that much.  Americans who love Volkswagen still appreciate the practicality and versatility of a hatchback, and they - we - have always been VW's most loyal customers.  With only the Jetta and the Tiguan within reach for many if not most American VW customers, Gruner is certainly interested in reintroducing the base Golf here once production of the car commences in Puebla. The lower costs of production in Mexico - the whole reason the Mark 8 Golf is being made there in the first place - will make such a move possible.

Maybe.  Because right now, cars made in Mexico are subject to a 25 percent tariff, which would make it not impossible to offer the Golf here but would certainly make it difficult.  The profit margins on affordable cars are so thin that it's hard to make much money on them, given the costs that go into developing the cars have been rising thanks to more regulations and more tech.  And Volkswagen of America no longer has larger midsize cars like the Passat and probably not enough SUVs to offset losses on affordable-car sales.  So Gruner would undoubtedly like to see the Mexico tariff reduced to 15 percent, which would put it in line with the import taxes on cars imported from elsewhere.  Will that happen?  That's anyone's guess.

But, given Gruner's desire to keep the Golf and Jetta available in the United States as the souls of the brand, it seems like the base Golf could finally arrive here after all.

Would I buy one?  At this point, probably not.  I've invested lots of money to keep my sixth-generation Golf as new, and I'm wary of getting a new Golf that has more tech than I know what to do with.  I may not want a Mark 8 Golf, but I'd like the opportunity to buy one.  Or, as women always like to say about boyfriends, "I don't want to marry you, but I want you to ask me."  I want Volkswagen to offer me the chance to buy a 2027 Golf in base form, even if I ultimately decide against it.  

But if I can get an eTSI hybrid like the one I rented in Germany last summer, I might be tempted . . ..