vee dub in the house....

[-pru-]

My brother just forwarded these links...Had to share as they are way too funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88irfHhHH7g&search=gti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mPl-iXsI_Y&search=gti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abmJFl5aHrA&search=gti

My favorite: "Jason...You got an 'F'..."

[Larry]

Those are fantastic. Are they showing them in the US? If so, I'd be tempted to buy one just to give an "in-your-face" to the tuner-types.

Larry Oliver
International Racing Products

[Keith Carter]

HAhahahahaha!

"It sucks in air"... "It's definitely sucking"


"We are going to un-pimp your auto!"

[-pru-]

Larry,

I've not see these yet on TV, but I've been told they were shown during the Olympics. For more grins, try http://www.vwfeatures.com/. You can pick out Mk5 features and then watch a video which utilizing your choices. It's worth spending a few minutes if for nothing else than hearing/watching the narrator!

[Al Craighead]

Classic. Seen a few new GTI commercials up here in Canada, but not those.

Cheers,

[dc]

Ahhh, VW trying to be über-cool and make fun of the sport compact crowd. Too bad they are always 3-4 years behind the changing times. I love the company (between my wife and I, we have collectively owned 17 VW/Audi products), but man, they need to grab a glove and get in the game.

VW's competition was stuffing 200hp into lighter compact cars years ago, and now they decide to finally step up the power of their cars (while adding LOTS of weight, too). They have always been too many years behind the current market trends. Someday, they'll figure it out before the market has been saturated.


Interesting commercials and marketing plan for the "new" VW, but that German guy will always be the blonde moron in Fargo who stuffed Steve Buscemi into the wood chipper.

[-pru-]

Doug,

Should have figured out you IM username long ago, but it finally dawned on me..."Up on 3"...a well known VW/GTi trait...

Good points regarding VW product offerings, but dang, the marketing guys (past and present) have got it down!

[TimW]

When Porsche came to CART in the 90s and they were hiring everyone they could off pit lane, a clear warning was when all the English guys on teams were saying no thanks, the Germans are too difficult a lot to work with. If a pommie thinks someone is hard to work with, they likely are.

The Wall Street Journal recently had an article about a VW immersion program for their young engineers. They were sent to America for 2 years to understand why the automotive market data was the way it was. Driving across the country back and forth, visiting places americans go, doing the things they do on weekends using the car to get there. They spent several millions of dollars to understand that Americans essentially live in their cars, which is why to some extent cup holders do add value to the customer experience. When they went home, senior managment didn't believe what they found and scrapped all the input as nonsense, according to the article. Apparently understanding your audience is not pararmount to 'I know what you want more that you know what you want.'

Tim

[dc]

Should have figured out you IM username long ago, but it finally dawned on me..."Up on 3"...a well known VW/GTi trait.

Good catch. Few people, if ever, figure out what that means without asking. When people ask me what my plates mean, or what the screennames mean, I tell them they'll see if they follow me through an exit ramp.

"I know what you want more that you know what you want."

That right there is the problem with VWoA in a nutshell. They still don't get it. After almost pulling out of the US market in '92, they still have no clue how to supply the American buyer with what they want. When they do figure it out, it's 4 years too late (read: Toureg, GTI, R32, etc.) for the US market. Funny thing is, I can't count how many times I've heard a VW enthusiast say, "boy I wish we could get VW to bring us the things they sell in Europe." They just bring us the stuff they think that we want.

They still don't have a clue about US buyers.

[IDSRacing]

I work in an industry that bring us into contact with VW and the story about immersing their engineers in American culture is totally true. Rumor has it that the design guys in the US were bypassed as they'd missed the boat on so many hot gadgets in the market...navigation for example. Anyway, these young german engineer types were holed up in a state of the art house in malibu for the year! One of the aims was to understand how home entertainment will merge with vehicle entertainment...think ipods etc.

nice job if you can get it!

[Beartrax]

I've only seen the "My Fast" series.
I like the one with the guy with his girlfriend, driving with the windows down.
"Kind of hard to hear the engine with all that yacking."

[D.T. Benner]

Ever been to China? VW sells more cars in China in a month than it does in the US in a year. The US market has more brands/models then any other market so WE are small change compared to the rest of the world when it comes to VW product design. I have been driving Watercooled VW's (and my wife and lots of other family members) since 1980. BUT as was said we don't get the latest and greatest VW products.

[dc]

I love the statistic that shows that the VW Golf is the biggest selling car in the WORLD. The US doesn't even know what it is. We're too infatuated with SUV's and Camrys.


"Is that the little Rabbit thing?"

[Keith Carter]

btw.... They are airing the commercials on TV. I just saw the first one.

[modernbeat]

...Interesting commercials and marketing plan for the "new" VW, but that German guy will always be the blonde moron in Fargo who stuffed Steve Buscemi into the wood chipper.

To me he'll always be the Nihilist from The Big Lebowski.

[Craig]

I've seen all these fairly regularly now on cable channels mostly. SpikeTV, Comedy Central, and even a few on SpeedTV. I read they were created by the same company who did the latest burger king commercials with the mascot looking king. Quite funny stuff, but the effectiveness to selling cars....we'll have to see.

I agree that all these cool cars (MK5 GTI, R32) are a bit late to the show, and definately too heavy, but they are still cool. Better late than never? I'll buy another heavy, underpowered VW any day over a Jap or Detroit car.

Craig

[4re308]

Awesome awesome commercials! Boy those are funny, and I saw the last on listed, on TV last night. Good stuff VW!

[Frank C]

I enjoy the commercials. I drove VW Golfs and GTIs from 1980 through 2002. My 1980 Golf was the most reliable car I have ever owned. However, when it finally was time to replace my '92 GTI 16V in 2002, I could not find a GTI in Oklahoma - the marketing emphasis seemed to be on New Beetles (ugh!) and Jettas. I ended up with a Saab 9-3, which has a great engine but handling that leaves something to be desired. I have enjoyed the practicality of hatchbacks and the fun of GTIs through the years and hope VW gets its act together. The commercials are an encouraging sign.
- Frank C

[Chuck Hovonick]

This series of commercials has been appearing regularly on the G4 channel - especially during Star Trek Next Generation re-runs - for about the last three weeks. Gamers, tecno geeks, tuners, and Star Trek fans - what a combination!

Chuck Hovonick