Hi all,
Time for a brief introduction. I've been lurking in this list for a long
time, but have never posted... well, not intentionally. I posted a rant about
Ubuntu a while back on my blog that seems to have been mirrored here, so I
figured I might as well join. :-) Anyway, I'm Derek Shaffer, son-in-law of
Deepa Mohan, who is also on the list.
Regarding the New Beetle, I'm a little surprised that it is coming to
India, though I guess this sort of marks a milestone in the types of vehicles
that are available to the Indian market (if the Accord V6 didn't already do
that). Vehicles available on the Indian market are typically vastly more
oriented towards space efficiency and fuel efficiency than ones sold in the
U.S. (Europe falls somewhere in-between), and vehicles whose shapes are
determined by the styling needs rather than the functionality needs are
uncommon. The New Beetle, while it is a very high quality machine and a very
cool modern representation of the best selling car in history, is extremely
space inefficient. It has a large footprint on the road and relatively little
space for passengers and cargo. This is not a problem for the U.S. market, but
on roads where every inch/cm counts, is it likely to sell? It will also be at
the expensive end of the market, which may present an
additional challenge for it as well. I'm going to be very interested to see
how well it is accepted.
Regarding reliability, the New Beetle is not immune to the electrical
issues that are typical of VWs (and therefore Audis and Skodas -- all from the
same parts bins), but I think most buyers are aware that there is a trade-off
between Japanese reliability and European road behavior (personally, I
certainly prefer the latter). VWs and Skodas seem to have done well enough in
India.
-Derek
----- Original Message ----
From: Thaths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, 18 August, 2008 11:55:57 PM
Subject: Re: [silk] VW to launch beetle in India next year
On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 10:23 AM, Sean Doyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Otherwise - a nice car.
The new Beetle? A nice car?! While it looks great - an excellent
offspring of an illustrious parent - inside and out, I've heard awful
horror stories about maintenance woes and frequent breakdowns.
Thaths
--
"I saw this in a movie about a bus that had to SPEED around a city, keeping
its SPEED over fifty, and if its SPEED dropped, it would explode. I think
it was called, 'The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down'." -- Homer J. Simpson
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