Automotive News Canada - August 2019 - 24

24

* AUGUST 2019

U.S. drives VW production; Canada puts its 'foot down'
CONTINUED FROM PA GE 1

Canada during a down market
for cars, as the automaker sold
about 2,400 Golf wagons in the
first half of the year.
"Is it the top-selling
Volkswagen vehicle in
Canada? No," Augustaitis said.
"But it's not like they're only
selling 300 or 400 units per
year."
VW Canada spokesman Thomas Tetzlaff said it
was important for the auto-

George
Augustaitis
of CarGurus:
Wagons will
help VW stay
connected with
customers.

PHOTO: CARGURUS

maker to continue offering the
Golf wagons in Canada as the
model moves into its eighth
generation. The move to end
production was driven by low
U.S. demand and leaves dealers on both sides of the border

without a new wagon for the
first time since 1965.
"We see opportunity to continue this," Tetzlaff said. "VW
Canada does not exist in a vacuum. We're very tied to [the
United States], and when product decisions are made, one
side affects the other."
This year through July,
VW Canada sold 10,540 Golf
models in Canada, according
to the Automotive News Data
Center in Detroit. While that
figure is down by almost 3,000

ed for about 27 per cent of all
VW Canada sales in that span.
That compares with the Golf
making up about 10 per cent
of VW's sales in the United
States.
VW Canada will order
thousands of extra wagons,
but they won't all go to
dealers right away. Some will
be kept in company-owned
yards. P H O T O : V W C A N A D A

units from the same point a
year ago, the Golf account-

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Tetzlaff said the Golf wagons have "a very loyal customer base" in Canada and
that the automaker has "high
hopes" for the 2019 models in
2020.
He also did not close the
door on the wagon models
returning to the Golf lineup in
the future, and said that VW
Canada convinced the company to continue offering the
base-model Golf in the country after the upcoming redesign, despite plans to cut base
versions in the United States.
Tetzlaff said VW Canada sold
6,201 base Golfs in the first
half of the year, accounting
for about 71 per cent of all Golf
sales.
"The wagon is not in the
planning round for the next
generation yet," Tetzlaff said.
"We still don't know exactly
when the timing will be for the
next generation of the Golf. It's
a very unique situation where
the U.S. and Canada are planning things differently. ...
"We put our foot down and
said, 'We do really well with
the Golf, and we need this car.'
So the decision has been made
that Canada will receive the
Golf.
"With respect for the
SportWagen and the Alltrack,
that's still up in the air."

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Wagons will be produced
for Canada through the end of
the year, Tetzlaff said. Some
vehicles will then be shipped
to dealerships. Others will be
kept at yards owned by VW
Canada, which will ship the
wagons to dealerships as needed.
"We're not going to ship
them all and send them right
to the dealers," Tetzlaff said.
Darren Adam, general
sales manager at Don Valley
Volkswagen in Toronto, welcomed VW Canada's decision,
saying he was unconcerned
about new vehicles sitting on
lots for a long period of time.
"I'm glad to have
them. We do well with the
SportWagens," Adam said.
"Volkswagens seem to be fine,
even if they sit a bit. We don't
have any issues with inventory."
CarGurus' Augustaitis said
keeping the wagons for sale
for an extra year will help the
brand connect with customers as it rolls out new vehicles.
VW will add three crossovers
over the next three years,
including the Atlas Cross
Sport in 2020 and the ID Crozz
battery electric vehicle in 2021.
"These are VW consumers that are going to drive
more people into the showroom from a dealer perspective if you have these vehicles
for people to start their search
on." - ANC
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Automotive News Canada - August 2019

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