Volkswagen's labor chief says U.S. operations a 'disaster'

When did they start to become unreliable? When did they start making them in Mexico? Any connection?

A VW needs to be made in Germany. A culture for quality control doesn't always move to different countries.

I recently reported that the European Toyota Auris has been suffering reliability issues with failing 12v batteries. Turns out this latest model had its electrical systems updated and designed in France, a country that makes cars renowned for electric gremlins. It isn't just VW that have fallen foul here, it appears Toyota are preparing to risk its reputation too.

If I were to name unreliable Toyotas I'd quote the diesel Avensis, the Aygo and apparently the latest Auris. None of these are made in Japan, but made in the UK and France to French design. Apparently this is to tune them to the local market, but all it's doing is bringing in reliability issues that plagued Peugeot, Citroen and Renault.

Nissan and Honda make cars in the UK and these are renowned for reliability and Nissan even export UK built cars back to Japan; something almost unheard of from a Japanese manufacturer.

So when you buy a VW do you think of quality German workmanship or of a manufacturer outsourcing production to the cheapest workers? Manufacturers think people don't care where a brand is from, but I think they do. To add to that, Chrysler UK have been trying to palm off Italian Lancias here rebadging them as Chrysler with commercials of them driving around American cities and with American voice overs, yet everyone knows they're Italian rot boxes and sales are low. Yet actual American cars like the PT Cruiser have been dropped. Strange.


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by that logic, then ALL GM and Fords should be made in the usa... and all Chrysler's should be made in Italy

Honda and BWM have had good success with having manufacturing facilities here in the usa. My previous 3 Chevy's have been made in Mexico and Canada. and my wifes Saturn Vue was made in mexico as well.

the last american made car I have owned was a Pontiac Montana (Georgia) and a 1994 Impala SS (Texas)

Anymore now a days, just becasue you think you are buying a japanese car, german, italian, or American, likely it isn't the case...

 

I'm saying some manage the move and change of culture well, others don't.

 

good point GC

All seemed well when they moved their US HQ to Virginia... As they say, the strong survive..

 

At least in the US, Volkswagen is kind of an opposite to Toyota.

Volkswagen...fantastic and entertaining commercials. Questionable and limited products.
Toyota...horrible commercials. Diverse and reliable products.

 

Like the entertaining commercials, but not the cars!

 

The "volcho" or current Volkswagen beetle is manufactured in Puebla, Mexico outside of the DF.

The Nissan Versa is manufactured in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

GM and Ford, also manufactures engines and parts in Mexico.

I'll stick with my Japanese made Prius"v."

Some of the California NUMMI Toyota Corollas made in the past were OK, but I'm not sure about Mexico.

 

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Tour the Georgetown,Ky. Toyota facility and you'll see why Toyota is tops in workmanship. Quite an impressive place.

 

When the first Camry was produced in the USA. It suffers from qualities problems rather than reliabilities issue.
The major problem is the trim and body parts are sourced in the USA, they are inferior to the Japan made parts.
They fell apart or crack or break after just couple of years.
At that time all the drive trains are imported from Japan except all the body parts. No issue there.
Eventually Toyota got the USA suppliers to fix all that.

 

Someone said German and Reliable in the same sentenance. That's funny. A 10 yr old German car is a disaster. I've had several. Never Never Never again.

 

If I want a German car, it better be built in German, whats the point of owning a German car if its not made in Germany. This holds true to Japanese cars and American cars. I was once told that a Honda thats built in Japan are the best made, and 2nd best were the Canadian made ones, and 3rd are USA made ones. Glad my Prius was made in Japan , like it should be. I think Lexus is making a big mistake with plans to build the next ES in Kentucky, this takes the allure away from buying a luxury foreign vehicle, I would just rather buy a new Caddy, as long as its made in Michigan!

 

Mexican built VWs are known to be prone to build issues.

Everything Grumpy stated above is 100%

 

And Camrys built in the US have less problems than the ones built in Japan. The Pontiac Vibe had less problems than the Matrix, and they came out of the same plant.

Honda's recent problems; battery management, brakes, and transmissions, were all on the design side, and would have been an issue no matter where they were built.

It is a question of whether the parent company can successfully transplant their values at the new location.

 

Exactly that.

Though the design side isn't always a HQ thing. The European Auris HSD is suffering issues, but was designed in France, not Japan. French cars are renowned for electrical issues.