On the heels of Nissan’s announcement that they are going to bring back the Datsun brand for new markets counting on saving money on their vehicle purchases, Volkswagen came out and announced that they too have been considering creating a new, low cost version of their most famous models. In fact, their spokesperson is making it clear that they have been intrigued by the idea for quite some time. It sounds as if Volkswagen is challenging Nissan in becoming the innovator of the low cost movement. We think it’s more due to the news that Nissan sold 60,000 of their stable to Indonesia alone this past sales year and the goal is set to increase those numbers to 250,000 sold by 2014. That is just the tip of the iceberg though since Renault-Nissan is also hard at work selling their popular Dacia brand in new markets along with their stable European market.
This isn’t the first time that Volkswagen threw their hat in the ring for the low cost segment though. Their traffic encounter with Suzuki was well meaning but is currently still wrapped up on arbitration. By the time anything is produced from that, the profit margin will be non-existent because of skyrocketing legal costs trying to get the whole debacle unraveled. But Volkswagen is not going to allow a small irritant such as Suzuki stand in their way and from the sounds of it, they are at the drawing board to come up with their own lineup that could be released as early as 2015. For this line of vehicles, the rumor is we can expect a hatchback, sedan, wagon and SUV, but that is only rumor. What we do know is that to truly be considered “low cost” they will need to be priced under the $10,000 mark.
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