Those VW plans akin to analysis in the loony bin. Yaris and Fit are delivering 32 mpg combined in US today. BTW, Civic and Corolla are demonstrating identical mileage. If gas of price will go up, and it will, they will be optimized for better economy. Polo is not near US market and VW does not have an single model that does better then 25 mpg. VW is selling 2009 diesel Jetta, but none has been seen and it will have similar mileage. If diesel engine will be put in Polo, it will be able to compete with Yaris/Fit on size and mileage, but not on price. it will have to compete with Prius and upcoming Insight.

No more Passat nameplate? So what if it sounds like Piss-ant? It’s still a name that has grown on a lot of people. And it’s the same name in Europe.

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/volkswagen_news/article_2336.shtml

For sale in August. I am not sure of the nearly 22K price for the sedan, and even higher for the SportWagen(yes..it’s sportwagen, not sportswagon, according to this link/site).

I thought it was supposed to be(from what I was told) 19,980 or so?
Guess in 2-3 weeks, we’ll find out for sure.

I don’t trust VW anymore since the last one I owned spent more time in the service department than it did in my driveway.

I seriously doubt this will go through. Gas prices will ease some and Volkswagen will use it as a reason for not bringing over Polo. Gasoline prices will continue to soar and dip until something radical is done, and I’ve read similar things year after year.

Even if the Polo was to gain a few hundred pounds, I’m pretty confident it would get better mileage than Fit, Yaris. It would really surprise me to hear that only the Volkswagen Polo diesel gets 40 mpg better. I say bring it over, but I’ve seen the same reasoning before, and it becomes tiring.

Sounds funny, but I only wish an independent American car company would try to grow mainstream, and not be affiliated with the current bunch of funny brands. It’s unfortunate that most attempts are bought up, drowned in the media but most often have a funky, save the Earth plan and get tangled in a mess that nobody expected. Just something new, fresh, economical, reliable and fun is needed, at a mainstream price. Not hard to do, if someone would get the guts too.

Well, they revived the Rabbit name, so does this mean the (ugh) Quantum or Dasher would be coming back..

Let’s hear it for the ‘Fastback’ and ‘The Thing’.
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Das ist vunderbar!

I don’t understand dropping the “Passat” moniker any better than I understand why they converted the “Golf” into the “Rabbit”. Whatever.

They should change the name of the Passat to the Placebo because with Volkswagen it’s pretty much a crapshoot as to what you’re really getting.

“…VW does not have an single model that does better then 25 mpg”.
xyunya, where do you get your information from? My 2007 GTI has averaged 27 mpg over a year in a mixed driving. This is what the most of the Passat drivers observe with the same turbo engine.

If you read between the lines, you can discern the Camaro story here.

Well, we have the Rabbit already, maybe they will bring back the Fox nameplate next…

Maybe they will bring the Fox Pickup (Saveiro) to the US next to compete with the Pontiac ST.

Please build it in Tennessee. Mexican built VW’s just fall apart; VW depreciation is heart-stopping.

kill the passat name, brilliant, idiots.

…and the Polo would become Fox for the US, and Passat CC would just become Passat to make room for the new downmarket Dasher

I think the bigger irony here is that during the last oil crisis VW rose to king of the hill with the Bug. This time around, not so much. Too bad, they could be selling a million 40mpg TDI Polos.

a diesiel Polo is needed
they shoulkd recinsider dropping the Passat name.

if the new CC is gunna be the PASSAT CC why are they thinking of killing the Passat name? how dumb is that?!

Who cares if they kill off the Passat name. The more important thing is that the Polo is coming. The Lupo is another option - if the Smart sells, I don’t see why the Lupo can’t either, esp in congested cities.

Joshy, they are only planning to kill the Passat for the US, where they plan to build something more Americanized. I assume they would still sell the Passat CC here (either as the Passat or CC), or at least try to.

This strategy makes no sense to me, because I assume the only Americans buying Passats, and VWs in general, are people that DON’T want an overly Americanized Camry, Accord or Altima. So why should VW stop bringing unique vehicles and just blend in with another dull, bloated family sedan? Seems it would hurt their image and turn away the buyers that LIKE the Euro-ness of VWs.

Camaro story tomorrow (Monday).

Matroskin, congrats on frugal driving. I can’t monitor everyone’s driving habits, so I used manufactured (VW) statistics: 21 city 29 highway; average 25. VW does not have a single model within 30 mpg (except upcoming diesel); pretty lame for “peoples car”.