Volkswagen is preparing a new mid-sized family sedan to take on the Toyota Camry , a new report finds. VW currently offers the mid-sized Passat, but it cost about 25% more than the Camry and Honda Accord. The mid-sized sedan class is one of the most competitive car segments in the U.S.
In a recent interview with The Detroit News, VW’s new Chief in the US Stefan Jacoby confirmed the car would hit the market in three to four years but didn’t reveal any details.
This time line indicates that VW’s Camry-fighter won’t be the four-door Passat Coupe spotted last month. The new sedan could be one of the U.S.-only models that VW is planning on building.
VW’s goal is to overtake Toyota as the world’s number one automaker, but it has some serious hurdles to overcome here in the U.S. While Toyota has made huge strides in the U.S. market over the last decade, VW continues as a low-volume automaker due to its lackluster lineup and questionable reliability (VW recalled over one million Beetles earlier this year).
In addition to the new sedan, VW also plans to bring the Tiguan SUV and possibly even variants of the recently unveiled Up! concept to the U.S. In an interview with The Car Connection, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn said that the company plans to unveil different versions of the Up! concept at next month’s Tokyo Motor Show as well as the L.A. Motor Show. Winterkorn also confirmed that VW is working on several new pickup trucks.
