[phaeton]

DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen to Build Minivan for US-Market

January 5 2006

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. / WOLFSBURG, Germany - DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group and Volkswagen will develop and produce a new van for the North American market. The vehicle is to be marketed under the Volkswagen brand. A corresponding agreement will be signed at the Detroit Motor Show.

Production of the Volkswagen minivan, which will be based on the next generation Chrysler and Dodge minivan will begin in 2008.

“This an important and groundbreaking decision for the Volkswagen brand in the USA”, said Wolfgang Bernhard, Chairman of the VW Brand Board of Management. “In the Volkswagen product range we are missing a van for families, which meets the specific requirements of our American customers. With this new vehicle we are going to enter another important market segment with our own product.”

"This is a win-win deal for both the Chrysler Group and Volkswagen," said Chrysler Group President and CEO Tom LaSorda. "With our manufacturing and platform engineering flexibility, we can deliver a high-quality product specifically tailored to Volkswagen's customers' tastes with little or no substitution effect on the current Dodge and Chrysler minivan lineup.”

[phaeton]

Although they'll share mechanical platforms and underpinnings, Chrysler won't donate its new Swivel 'n Go seating to Volkswagen's next minivan.

VW vans may not get Swivel 'n Go seats


By RICK KRANZ | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

AutoWeek | Published 01/15/07, 11:31 am et

DETROIT - Don't expect to see Chrysler's new Swivel 'n Go seats in Volkswagen's upcoming minivans.

The Chrysler group, which is engineering the Volkswagen minivan, is likely to hold on to both its Stow 'n Go and Swivel 'n Go features.

The swiveling seats turn 180 degrees to face the third row. A table can be placed between the second and third rows.

Frank Klegon, executive vice president of product development for Chrysler, said "there will be differentiators" between Chrysler's minivans and Volkswagen's.

Speaking of Swivel 'n Go, he said "I think you will see that it remains exclusive to us."

As for Stow 'n Go, he said: "I don't know if we made the final conclusion on that, but I suspect that those are unique things to us."

The seven-seat VW minivan is based on the restyled, re-engineered 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan. Chrysler will begin assembling the VW minivan in the second half of 2008. The VW minivan will have a distinct exterior. With the possible exception of the roof, the VW model will not share any sheet metal with the Chrysler models.

Original here - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

[phaeton]

VW MPV to be built in Canada...... - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Originally Posted by Chris Vander Doelen for the Windsor Star

VW van 'a plus' for DCX plant
Production to start in '08

Chris Vander Doelen, Windsor Star
Published: Saturday, February 10, 2007

Lost in the blizzard of bad news for DaimlerChrysler Inc. this week was a development which could be a major boon to Windsor's hopes for its long-term automotive future: building Volkswagens.

Amid all the grim news given to CAW executives by DCX executives on Tuesday -- mainly, the loss of 2,000 jobs in Canada -- was confirmation that the Chrysler Group's Windsor Assembly Plant has been chosen to build a 2008 minivan for Volkswagen.

Neither the company nor the union will comment on the decision publicly, but union sources say the confirmation was made by the company this week almost by way of apology for all the tough staffing decisions about to hammer Windsor Assembly.

Volkswagen and the Chrysler Group formally signed a deal to jointly build minivans during the 2006 North American International Auto Show but they wouldn't say where they would be built.

The deal was signed by former Chrysler Group CEO Tom LaSorda and former Chrysler Group COO Wolfgang Bernhard, who was with Volkswagen at the time.

The VW vans will use the same basic vehicle architecture developed for the 2008 Chrysler and Dodge vans which launch this June but it will be powered by a different engine, probably a diesel which may also be available as an option on the higher-trim Chrysler brand vans.

The VW van will also have significant sheet metal differences, a unique interior -- Volkswagens are known for having some of the best interiors in the business -- and its own driving and handling characteristics.

Industry sources say it will be an entirely different vehicle than the Chrysler vans, even if it will be built in the same plant on the same assembly line.

"It's going to be completely a Volkswagen design to keep it distinct from the Chrysler products," said Tony Faria, head of the automotive program at the University of Windsor.

He called the addition of a VW product to WAP's current two-vehicle lineup "a good thing" for the city.

"I know some people don't like it -- they think Windsor should just build minivans. But I think it's a plus to build more vehicles in Windsor," he said.

Windsor Assembly has consistently ranked higher for efficiency and quality in the Harbour Report than its sister plant in St. Louis.

Volkswagen is said to have wanted its vehicles built in the higher-quality plant. The VWs are certain to command a higher price tag than the Dodge vans at least, and could cost more than even the Chrysler versions.

The CAW, mainly Local 444 president Ken Lewenza, fought for Windsor to be chosen both as the "lead plant" to build the new minivan and the plant to build the Volkswagen van.

The union is believed to have given up some demands during the last round of contract negotiations in order to win both those distinctions, but at the gain of improved job security in Windsor and a longer life for the plant.

PAINT SHOP KEY ELEMENT

Construction of the new $608-million paint shop was considered a crucial element of bringing the VW to Windsor. VW didn't consider the quality produced by WAP's old paint shop good enough for its vehicles.

In recent years, the Big Three's paint quality and finishes have become significant issues for buyers.

In an interview this week, Lewenza said Chrysler was extremely pleased by the first full test run of its new Windsor paint shop last week, when the plant build its first pilot version of the 2008 minivan.

"We were very, very delighted with how it went -- everything was perfect," Lewenza said this week. "Management tells me they were very happy with how things went. It got through the paint shop just fine."

The paint shop has been tested dozens of times on empty shells, but last week's "pilot job" was the first completed 2008 van to be built and painted. Hundreds more pilots will be run before production launches.

Lewenza said Windsor workers are "very excited" by the somewhat controversial design of the new van, which they believe will be a winner in the marketplace.

While some critics of the van shown in Detroit last month said they had hoped it would be more radical in design, Lewenza said he and other Chrysler workers "love the van. I think it's fantastic."

Citing industry sources he has consulted, Faria said Volkswagen plans to have WAP build between 10,000 and 20,000 units of its van "until they get a better idea of what sales will be."

The CAW has been told VW hopes to sell about 50,000 units per year -- which would account for about one-seventh of Windsor's maximum annual production of about 360,000 units per year.

Faria said the fact Ford, Mazda and General Motors either already have or intend to stop building minivans may have led VW to raise its sales forecasts.

In 2006, according to unofficial figures compiled by Automotive News, Windsor Assembly produced 291,572 minivans and Chrysler Pacificas, working overtime many Saturdays.

It produced 359,993 vehicles in 2005, according to DesRosiers Automotive consultants, working virtually maximum overtime.

The VW van won't launch until 2008. It will probably be sold only in North America, industry sources say, since Chrysler vans are considered to be too large for most European roads.

VW has a long history of having vehicles built on contract, starting with the first Karrman Ghia in 1955. Recently, Chrysler has contracted Magna-Steyr to build Jeeps, minivans and other vehicles in Austria.

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, or 519-255-5777, ext. 645.

© The Windsor Star 2007

[siko]

I've read some contradicting reports on the interior... will it be shared or distinct? Ben, have you heard anything official yet?

[phaeton]

Originally Posted by siko

I've read some contradicting reports on the interior... will it be shared or distinct? Ben, have you heard anything official yet?

Originally Posted by Diana T. Kurlyko for AutoWeek

Upcoming Volkswagen minivan won't be Chrysler copy, automaker says

By DIANA T. KURLYKO | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
8:38 am, January 16, 2006

DETROIT - Volkswagen's Chrysler- built minivan will have a unique shape and interior, says VW brand Chairman Wolfgang Bernhard.

The Chrysler group will build a minivan for VW in 2008 based on a new generation of vehicles that will debut in 2007.

Bernhard says VW will only get the long-wheelbase, seven-seat model.

He said the vehicle will be different from the Chrysler group version.

"It isn't just going to be a Chrysler minivan (with) a Volkswagen badge on it," he said. "It will be completely different. The touch, feel and functionality of the interior will be Volkswagen."

Adrian Hallmark, executive vice president of Volkswagen of America Inc., says the VW minivan not only will be "distinctive," but "a more sporty proposition than what you see in minivans. It will be strong and clean and definitive VW design."

The VW minivan will use a Chrysler engine because "in this market segment, engines are not that important," says Bernhard.

VW won't reveal what the minivan will be called. But it won't get VW's hallowed Microbus name, Hallmark says.

VW won't change the entire steering geometry of the Chrysler minivan. Handling changes will be made when a prototype is developed, Hallmark says.

Hallmark says potential sales for the minivan are huge because the market segment is 1.2 million vehicles.

Yes it looks like VW will have a different interior than Chryslers

Some members of VWvortex have stated that the diesel engine VW MPV was not originally on VWoAs shopping list, so this may have changed with VWs new management and push into Clean Diesel (BlueTec) intiative but its not Official yet.

[phaeton]

source - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

[Merc1]

At least it looks like a VW, but I'm troubled by it using Chrysler's running gear. Chrysler's front drive powertrains (engines and transmissions) pretty much suck, especially the engines. VW should just use the chassis and then do everything else their way. If a VW shows up with a Chrysler V6 (read: underpowered and unrefined) then this van is a dead before it arrives. Come to think of it minivans are on their way out anyway. This appears to be another too much, too little, too late move on the part of VW, entering a dying segment with a piss-poor product.

M

[iluvbugs1970]

Personally, I think it looks like an Oldsmobile. That's honestly what came to my mind.

Designing cars specifically for the US market is one thing, but badge engineering is quite another. Can someone PLEASE explain why we don't have the Multivan in the US? I suppose it's the same problem that befell the awesome Eurovan: price.

This isn't the answer to VW's lack of a people mover. One minute VW seems focus on niche vehicles (rear engined mini), and the next they come out with this garbage.

Invariably, it seems as though when two vehicles share the same running gear and body-one loses out in the sales race. Think Mazda Navajo/Ford Explorer, first generation Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager, Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix (OK, neither of them did really well), etc. Hell, even back in 1970 when VW slapped their own badge on the NSU K70, it failed to ignite any excitement. Because people could tell it wasn't a "real" VW.

Anybody agree that not only is this a bad image move for VW, but no one will buy the more expensive VW van when it offers the same body and powertrain without the flip and fold seats?

[phaeton]

Multivan not in US due to Price & Chicken tax

Rebadging good or bad - hmmm probably a bad thing unless VW can showhorn a CR TDI in the future, realistically it will ultimately fail.

To be honest I love rare VW Hybrids (as in JV/Rebadging kind) like this

Maybe VWoA and Shanghai VW who are designing a new family sedan should build an MPV off that same platform as well

[zetableh]

To all those bashing the powertrain, keep in mind this will feature the next generation's powertrain, featuring all but the base engine wth a new 6-speed automatic. And knowing that VW is pricing above the Dodge, I'm sure they'll just chuck the 3.3 and it's 4-speed out the window, and go with the 3.8 and 4.0s, with the 6 speed slushboxes.