Sept sales report - good news?

[1998redwagon]

Has anyone seen the reported VOA sales for Sept 2012 compared to 2011? Try

http://askavwsalesguy.com/blog/2012/...september.html

The short story is that VW sales rose 34.4% and 37.2% month-over-month and year-to-date respectively.

Looking at the numbers by model shows me something I was surprised to see. Jetta sales are down 4-5% and sales of the Jetta Sportwagen, while up for the month, are down YTD by a whopping 21%.

The Jetta models in total are still the best selling VWOA model but it has a downward sales trend and has for the past few months both MoM and YTD. To me this is somewhat surprising as the sedan is a relatively new redesign. The slowing Jetta sales have been offset by Passat sales and to some extent Beetle sales but both of those models are newer than the Jetta, so you would expect to see large increases.

Just curious, do you think flagging Jetta sales are the result of
a) normal market trends - interest in new design has peaked and is going to stabilize
b) Passats on the lot - for a few thousand $ more I can get a larger USA built Passat
c) something else?

[feels_road]

b) Passats on the lot - for a few thousand $ more I can get a larger USA built Passat

Jetta sales have stagnated since the Passat came out. In the US, bigger is almost always better (from the viewpoint of most customers). You get a bigger car for almost the same money.


On the flip side, there is quite a bit of leeway for VW to lower the price on the Jetta and still make a good profit. Perhaps they will do that once the last available MkVI Golfs have been sold (so an equivalent Golf doesn't cost $3,000 - $4,000 more than a Jetta...).

http://media.vw.com/pressrelease/123...ease-september