With flagging sales and a cost-saving mission handed down from on high, the fate of the Volkswagen Scirocco and Beetle has long been the topic of speculation, but now there’s new evidence to suggest that they’re in danger of extinction.
The topic of a new generation of each was brought up at VW’s Annual Session where Arno Antlitz, board member for controlling and accounting, spoke ominously about the cars’ futures.
“The Beetle and Scirocco are representatives of an emotional and appealing class of vehicles, but it [VW product planning] is not always about continuing cars from one generation to the next,” said Antlitz.
Upcoming models, such as the I.D. family and the Arteon, he said, would be emotional vehicles in their own right, suggesting that they could fill any gaps left behind by a missing Beetle or Scirocco.
A report from Autocar.co.uk suggests, though, that only the hardtop Beetle is in danger of getting the ax, as the convertible version sells better and is the brand’s only remaining convertible.
Together, though, only 25,000 Beetle and Beetle Convertibles sold in 2016, a number that the Golf reached in January of 2017. Meanwhile, fewer than 11,000 Sciroccos sold last year. Even compared to the GTI, that’s not a great result. In America alone, more GTIs were sold in the first half of 2016.
Following the dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen is looking for any opportunity to cut costs and, although that project has been going well, not having to redesign cars that don’t sell well could be an attractive way to save some cash.
[source: Autocar]
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