Automakers routinely keep special fleets of vehicles for the media to use for evaluations as a cost-saving measure, but Consumer Reports suggested in a blog post that Volkswagen is engaged in loaning out specially-equipped cars.
The magazine says that an early press Passat it received this summer featured classy-looking plastic covers over both trunk hinges. A Passat the magazine picked up from a local dealer only featured the hinge cover on one side, where it hides wiring that goes to the release switch and the license plate lights.
The magazine alleges that VW dressed up its media fleet Passat, a move that could be designed to distance it from the comparatively downmarket Jetta that was nearly universally panned in most reviews.
Leftlane discovered that no Passats on dealership lots have both trunk hinge covers, but we don’t currently have a media Passat in our testing fleet. As soon as we get access to one, we’ll update this space.
Our take
We routinely borrow vehicles from manufacturer press fleets (hey, it’s a lot cheaper than buying them), and while we can see how it would be very easy for an automaker to, say, add more sound deadening or grippier or quieter tires to vehicles headed to media fleets, we haven’t noticed any glaring differences like those on the Passat. You might recall that we weren’t exactly blown away by the Passat’s little brother, the Jetta.
Like most industries that rely on critical reviews to both improve future (and existing) products and to spread the word, automakers take their press fleets very seriously. Cars are always in tip-top condition, although we’ve found that automakers have finally reduced the number of “loaded to the gills” cars in test fleets to give us, the media, a better taste of what people actually buy.
References
1.’Are Volkswagen’s media…’ view
