Is VW sucking the character out of its marque? (video, 12:33)

he's talking about from a driver's feel perspective, and idea that every car produced should be unique from others, but that is contrary to the reality of shared platforms and shared components and R&D distribution, so it's a noble idea from him, but negates fiscal reality of car manufacturing (which we know he is certainly aware of)

VW/audi/bentley/bugatti/porsche/lamborghini sharing DNA between each makes a lot of corporate and financial efficiency sense, after all the goal is profit, and what better model to increase the advancement of development for their range of vehicles, i think it's a superior model actually, far better than a single manufacturer with simply different lines to offer, what's better for market capitalization than if the publics choice of vehicles (within a certain segment) that 2-3-4 of them are yours!

 

how/what do you mean?

 

I think it's an excellent point, and probably just a fact of modern corporate strategy -- Bentley wouldn't be around if engineered and produced everything for its cars.

I have noticed a watering-down of marque identities, and Bentley and Lamborghini are two that come to mind. Even Audi, to some extent, feels very VW-ish. The Gallardo and R8 feel redundant.

I think what he means is that if you've engineered the best possible gearbox, or steering box, etc., why not use it throughout the product range across the parent company? To take the handbrake example from the video, if that button in that position works well, what's the point in redesigning it for different car?

 

truth

i think to some degree they try, but with every vehicle being so different in many ways still, that's not realistic to just swap in say the gallardo steering rack into an A4 and have the same result, there are many more components and factors which attribute to the final 'feel'

also, fact is many cars are built 'down' to a price, even audis, vws, etc, so compromise is going to an inherent part of any car brought to market IMO , but overall they have greatly improved thing, i think even IMO that vw/audi/porsche has raised the bar for the rest of the industry in many ways

 

ah, i understand you now
i'm sure they try to, that would make sense, John could probably comment better as to why or how hard that is to achieve in large manufacturer production

 

Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini have all become better cars under the VW umbrella.

 

Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini have all become better cars under the VW umbrella.