How does VW intend to sell it's new flagship cars? Surely it's not going to sell them through it's current dealership?
Oh man! pity the poor buyer!
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..good question!
They will get round this by sending their sales staff on a training course to communicate the 'added value' of the brand, and to emphaisze the 'improved lifestyle' features.
But a VW dealer is a VW dealer at the end of the day: only a few that I have experienced over the past 5 years of VW ownership have truly snazzy dealerships with courteous staff. Otherwise it is the long-queues-and-grubby-workshop-and-we-never-clean-your-car-even-thoug
h-we-promise-to
brigade!
VW should take a leaf out of the Lexus/Toyota branding exercise.
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How does VW intend to sell it's new flagship cars? Surely it's not going to sell them through it's current dealership? Oh man! pity the poor buyer!
I don't think anyone buying this car new will be in the 'poor' bracket.
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Spot on, J, and they will be rare visitors to the dealer. That's not how cars like this are sold.
People in this bracket are targeted via events and marketing campaigns aimed solely at them, there'll be an exclusive test drive programme, probably for people who currently own BMWs, Mercs etc., with offers to company directors of a Touareg or Phaeton for a few days to see if they like it.
If they ever do buy one servicing will be on a collect and deliver basis. Used to be the same with my company car; I never visited the dealer.
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It's a given that owners will be targeted, but it is interesting that Toyota ( with arguably a better reputation for sales and service ) felt the need to introduce a separate brand.
As I understand it although much of the release blurb talks of the new VW customer, one of the main reasons for the birth of the new cars is to keep core VW buyers who progress through the VW range as they become more affluent. When they have moved out of the VW range they haven't necessarily migrated to Audi (about 5% in the US).
Another reason for the cars is to raise brand profile. I think the 1st years production for the Phaeton is limited to about 37,000 world-wide.
Any company can target a car at a specific audience. It's whether that company has the right infrastructure and customer focus to maintain and support the customer after they have bought the product. Customer expectations are much higher at this money and word of mouth from peers is *much* more important than any marketing campaign in the long-term.
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Toyota's sucess with the Lexus brand came about because of their need to sell 'upscale'models in the USA,with higher prices and of course better margins.As this worked so well in the USA they introduced the system to Europe including the UK.How many cars would Toyota have sold to us badge snob Brits if they had called the Lexus LS400 a Toyota Celsior/Crown,not so many i think.
In the USA posh Hondas are branded Accura,and posh Nissans branded Infinti.Looks like a posh VW is going to be called a,er,VW,well that will set it apart then.
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