Badge Ceiling?

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

But it's something that's utterly unimportant to a hell of a lot of people. They don't care about "emotion". A car is an appliance. White goods.

And if you don't believe me, just look at the majority of mobile porridge clogging our roads. Come to that, the vast majority of "vehicle operators" wouldn't recognise a dynamically superior car if it bit them.

You removed the bit of my sentence that covered that - "I can see how a Skoda would be a logical choice when purchasing - its a bit cheaper and a bit bigger,"

I personally wouldnt buy one (i dont think), but i can see why people do if they're just looking something functional.

AdrianC

Anyway...
VAG global sales 2018 by brand...
https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2018-global-volkswagen-group-worldwide-sales-by-brand/

VW cars - 6.25m
Audi - 1.9m
Skoda - 1.2m

Now remember that VW and Audi are global brands, Skoda is a primarily European one - Europe and China are the vast majority of the sales, with Russia the only other major market. Skoda were about level with Audi across Europe/China, and substantially ahead in Europe, and sold about 50% of VW's European volume.

Even Seat sold half a million cars, all in Europe, not that far behind Audi's European volume.

Globally, VAG produces more vehicles than anybody else - they must have a faint clue about what they're doing.

facade

motorguy wrote: »

Sorry, but thats just a chip on your shoulder.

If he'd paid more for the equivalent VW, then he'd have been a badge snob, paying the same for a different brand is just brand preference.

I can barely walk for all the chips I carry on my shoulders, but I wouldn't say the Skoda/VW/Audi thing is one of them. I'd gratefully accept any as a gift, or might even buy any of them if the price were low enough to be a disposable bargain, but if it is my money for a full price car, it is going on something with a VIN starting with J.;)

Nearly_Old

motorguy wrote: »

I can see how a Skoda would be a logical choice when purchasing - its a bit cheaper and a bit bigger, but i cant honestly say i've even felt a real "desire" to own one - which is important to me when i buy a car. Theres no emotion feeling with me about them.

I agree with you and we have no emotional feeling towards the Skoda as it is purely the family workhourse so there was no point in spending more than we needed to.


In 2001 my wife treated herself to a Z3 and in 2007 she traded that in and got a six month old Z4 that was her daily commuting car for 5 years before she retired but she still has it and still enjoys driving it. In March 2008 I was given first refusal on a 99 2.8 Z3 by a fellow Zed Roadster forum member and I still have it. Our retirement budget did include running 3 cars as we do have an emotional connection with our Zeds but needed something more practical as well.

motorguy

Nearly_Old wrote: »

I agree with you and we have no emotional feeling towards the Skoda as it is purely the family workhourse so there was no point in spending more than we needed to.


In 2001 my wife treated herself to a Z3 and in 2007 she traded that in and got a six month old Z4 that was her daily commuting car for 5 years before she retired but she still has it and still enjoys driving it. In March 2008 I was given first refusal on a 99 2.8 Z3 by a fellow Zed Roadster forum member and I still have it. Our retirement budget did include running 3 cars as we do have an emotional connection with our Zeds but needed something more practical as well.

Yes, i think thats where they would work perfectly in that "workhorse" scenario with something more interesting as a main car.

I might be finding myself in a similar position soon as i'll need a car just to take to and leave at the airport and we also might have a requirement for a 4 door car on rare occasions so perhaps an Octavia would suit that.

Like yourselves our main car tends to be something "interesting". Currently a modded 250BHP Cooper S, prior to that we ran an A45 too and before that a 370Z GT, Volvo T5 and a Boxster. We'd a couple of Z4s too over the years - a 2007 Z4 3.0Si Coupe bought new and in 2012 a 2.0i Turbo bought new. Wish we'd kept the Si Coupe....

AndyMc.....

motorguy wrote: »

:rotfl:

:T

Very good.

There are many, many things i would criticise the Passat for, being "pokey" and "little" are not among them. Whilst being a fan previously of big cars i found the Passat unnecessarily brutish at 4.8m long and 1.8 metres wide. To put that in perspective, a standard UK parking space is 4.8 metres long, and just 2.4 metres wide. A Superb cant even fit in a standard space, being 4.856 metres long.

And unless his sons have legs like a giraffe, they'll be just fine in a regular saloon car. No need for an XXL Superb.

Oh, and for the record, the Passat has the same interior rear leg space (to the nearest cm) as a Jaguar XJ, so any colleagues that travel in the back will have more than enough room.

But jags aren't big on rear leg room.

motorguy

AndyMc..... wrote: »

But jags aren't big on rear leg room for a luxury car. A lot more room than most other cars on the road though.

Trust me on this - a 4.8 metre long Passat is plenty big for UK roads, town centres and parking spaces and has ample room for rear passengers.

They're bigger than an E Class and a 5 series.

There are many reasons why people might want a Superb but "because a Passat is too small" is very unlikely to be one of them, nor is it likely to be "because i need extra rear leg room".

Herzlos

ChrisK..... wrote: »

There's nothing to suggest that VWs success is attributed to Skoda acquisition when the rudimentary maths suggest VW were successful DESPITE selling VWs with a Skoda badge for cheap when they could have put a VW badge on and sold them for more

That's not how it works though. Some people can't afford VW and some have even more money to spend, so if you only make VW you potentially lose sales. If you then have Audi for the prestige brand, VW for the mid range, and Skoda for the affordable. It's a winning strategy in almost all markets; people will pay a lot of money for the badge.

Herzlos

motorguy wrote: »

I can see how a Skoda would be a logical choice when purchasing - its a bit cheaper and a bit bigger, but i cant honestly say i've even felt a real "desire" to own one - which is important to me when i buy a car. Theres no emotion feeling with me about them.

I find that about all VAG cars, decent enough but hugely boring, and if I'm buying boring I may as well get the cheap one.

Though maybe I'm an inverse snob; when I bought the Skoda I didn't even consider the VW alternative as it'd be more money for the same thing, and I might have been wrong.

motorguy

Herzlos wrote: »

That's not how it works though. Some people can't afford VW and some have even more money to spend, so if you only make VW you potentially lose sales. If you then have Audi for the prestige brand, VW for the mid range, and Skoda for the affordable. It's a winning strategy in almost all markets; people will pay a lot of money for the badge.

Thats wholly how i feel about the range of cars. Audi in particular with the A3, A4, and A6 - i find it hard to consider Audi a "prestige" brand though, although a lot of people do. I'm not sure what you're really gaining over a VW Golf or Passat.