Skip to main content

Nobody Backs Out The Outback: Golf Alltrack Sale Slow, While Golf Wagon Totals Soar

You didn’t seriously think there was a tall, be-cladded wagon that could sell like a Subaru Outback, did you?

Well, as the all-conquering Subaru Outback continues to enjoy increased U.S. demand, the Volkswagen Golf Alltrack is already suffering a mild case of DTWS.

Not Dancing With The Stars. Don’t read so fast.

Decreased Tall Wagon Sales.

The Volkswagen Golf Alltrack’s May 2017 performance of only 1,312 sales represented a six-month low.

There’s no shortage of Mexico-built Golf Alltracks on U.S. dealer lots. Cars.com shows over 6,500 Alltracks in stock now.

But after steadily climbing to 1,823 sales in December of last year — which still stands as the best month for Alltrack sales to date — the Outbackified Golf averaged fewer than 1,600 monthly sales in the first-third of 2017 before sales dipped even lower in May.

Again, the expectation wasn’t for Subaru Outback-like sales success. Not in year one of generation one; not for an automaker struggling to restore confidence following 2015’s diesel emissions scandal; not for a car with less space and ground clearance than an Outback but a similar price tag.

2015_golf_sportwagen_4748

Subaru has reported year-over-year Outback sales improvements in the U.S. in each of the last 16 months and in every year since the brand began breaking out the Outback from the Legacy. Outback volume in 2017 is on track to rise above 200,000 sales for the first time, double the total achieved as recently as 2011.

That’s not the Golf Alltrack’s league, no doubt. Since September’s U.S. launch, Volkswagen sold 11,020 copies of the Golf Alltrack.

But why is the Alltrack, so soon after its arrival, already tailing off? Some of the blame belongs to Volkswagen’s Golf SportWagen, the very car that spawned the Alltrack.

In May 2017, for example, Volkswagen of America reported 2,213 Golf SportWagen sales, more than twice the number sold in May 2016. Golf SportWagen sales more than doubled in April, as well, when the lower-riding wagon earned 33-percent more sales than the Alltrack.

The base trim Golf SportWagen 1.8T S with 4Motion all-wheel drive is priced at $24,650. The Alltrack 1.8T S, with 4Motion as standard equipment, costs $2,020 more. Besides operating on the losing side of the value ledger, Volkswagen’s Alltrack will more than likely enjoy its greater periods of demand in specific regions when winter weather looms.

The good news? Total SportWagen/Alltrack volume, meanwhile, has more than tripled to 13,689 units so far this year. More than four out of every ten Golfs sold is now a wagon of one sort or another, up from just one in five at this stage of 2016. Total Golf hatchback sales are up 8 percent in early 2017.

This article first appeared on The Truth About Cars

The post Nobody Backs Out The Outback: Golf Alltrack Sale Slow, While Golf Wagon Totals Soar appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2r3mx5s
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

European Passat GTE launches as Saloon and Variant

Volkswagen continues e-motoring offensive with plug-in hybrid Passat GTE delivers 218 PS and travels up to 50 kilometres on all-electric power First Volkswagen plug-in hybrid in the high-volume segment of large family cars The Volkswagen continues to electrify! Following the Golf GTE*, comes the next high-volume model with a plug-in drive system: this time the German carmaker is electrifying the new Passat GTE. Its launch marks the debut of a new generation of business and family cars – zero-emission vehicle and long-distance touring car all in one. A Volkswagen that combines the present and the future. A car that boasts not only one of the most progressive drive systems of our time, but also an array of innovative assistance and infotainment systems that is ground-breaking in the segment of large family cars. With superb system output of 160 kW / 218 PS, frugal NEDC consumption of just 1.6 l/100 km and 12.2 kWh/100 km (Variant: 12.4 kWh) and an all-electric range of up to 50 k...
Post a Comment
Read more