Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
True, but it's still a big niche. As you point out, it really was VW's main model (plus the van and Karman-Ghia), and few other single models sold nearly as well.
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KG's were more or less hand built so they didn't sell much, just like the Type 3, 411, 412 etc. And they rust very very quickly - few KG Mk1s live in the EU and fewer KG Mk2s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Also remember that in the '70s, as VW's US sales declined, that small car niche that the Beetle created was being filled by the likes of Honda, Toyota, Datsun (now Nissan), and Subaru. If you consider their current total sales as a fraction of the US market, niche somehow doesn't seem the right word :-)
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Up until the late 1960s VW's main competition (such as it was) came from British cars as well as those from France and Italy - Peugeots, Renaults, Lancias and FIATS. Nobody except VW invested in long term model development and a dealer network in the US except VW so they won - compare development of the Morris Minor in the UK vs the VW Beetle for an idea of this, both were more or less introduced at the same time - the designer of the Minor is my avatar.
In the 1970s the Japanese arrived in greater numbers (they had been there since the early 1960s) and also invested just as much in service as they did in sales and advertising. At the same time the Japanese also exported hard to Europe also in service as well as sales, so we had the same issue - cheap damn good cars competing with our expensive, slightly less good products and nice dealers too.
The European makers started to protect their own turf first so they neglected service in the US and started to fail as a result. They also had less to invest in technology - 60hp, 4cyl OHV MGB vs 150hp, 6cyl, OHC Nissan 240z - no chance.
Acting as a lesson against protectionism the European market first threw up barriers to the Japanese and when that failed they entered into a "Gentleman's Agreement" where Japanese makers restricted themselves to 10% of the market. They stuck to it too, but demand was so great it just made Japanese cars worth more so their products became worth a premium.
This was both good and bad for the Japanese - good as in they made more profit on each car, but bad as it allowed in the other Far Eastern makers such as Kia, Hyundai etc.
Now we make Japanese cars here in the UK - Toyota, Honda and Nissan, and MG cars made here are actually made in China and assembled here. The French - just being the French - objected about these being made in the EU until Renault bought a lot of Nissan and then Toyota started making cars in France (no idea how many they make in a typical French 30 hour working week
...).
My next car will come from
here, which is PSA (French) and Toyota jointly making cars in Czech Republic, which used to be in what we called "Eastern Europe" and we now just call "Europe"
The world changes.