Skip to main content

VW Wants to Sell Cars in Five Clicks

Volkswagen was looking towards the future in LA this week, shining a light on what’s coming in terms of sales. Taking a page out of Amazon’s book, the company wants to simplify the shopping experience to remove all barriers to sales.

That means new buying experiences online and at the mall, as well as a simpler way to buy vehicles. Said in the context of the I.D. family of vehicles, the buying process would be simplified down to five clicks.

First, you would choose the model. Perhaps alarmingly, VW wants to take away door count options and trim levels in the name of simplicity.

Second, you choose the power. Although this could apply to power output, VW’s head of sales and marketing, Jürgen Stackmann, said Tuesday that he expects range to be the more important selling feature.

Third, you choose the color. That one pretty much speaks for itself, but along with the rest of the industry, VW is interested in offering two-tone paint jobs, so I guess that could become two clicks if you’re not careful.

Fourth, you choose accessories. Whether you want a glass roof or not, inductive charging capability, a heads up display and all the other features that require a physical change to the car.

And finally, you choose your software. This will be the apps you use, and that might include driving aids, like Lane Keep Assist. If you opt out during the purchase of the vehicle, though, don’t worry, because VW wants to offer over-the-air software updates to users.

Through a digital VW app store called We by VW, the apps will always be available to you, and with the option to buy test them out for free, so you can decide if you like Lane Keep Assist before buying it.

The idea boils down to: “Be Simple,” said Stackmann. “Which is tough, because we like complexity […] But we have to keep complexity behind the curtain.”

Volkswagen is quick to add that it hasn’t given up on the traditional dealer network but is looking to keep up with the times.

The post VW Wants to Sell Cars in Five Clicks appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2AkTxdh
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Macau Gets Messy with 16-Car Pileup

The Macau Grand Prix is always good for an accident or two or 16— you may remember Audi’s race ending crash last year —and this year’s event didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take long for things to get messy on the tight road circuit. On the opening lap of the qualifying race a 16-car pileup caused the race to be suspended. Things kicked off when Daniel Juncadella hit a wall on the exit of Police bend, one of the tightest parts of the already tight circuit. The following car of Raffaele Marciello was able to avoid the carnage, but Laurens Vanthoor, who was in the upside-down Audi that ended the race last year, could not avoid Juncadella and together they blocked up the road pretty much completely. “I couldn’t see him [Juncadella] at first. Then I saw the car standing still,” Vanthoor told Motorsport. “I tried to brake but it was just understeering and I couldn’t do anything. There’s room for one car there and you’re blind.” Fourteen more cars would eventually crash into the corner c

The First of its Kind: Integrated Engineering Releases Highly-Anticipated IE450T MK6 Golf R Turbo Kit

After two long years of development, the team at Integrated Engineering has finally announced the release of their IE450T kit for the MK6 Golf R. With their turbo kit bolted on right out of the box, the sport AWD hatch is transformed into a 450bhp monster, with hardly any noticeable increase in spool time. In fact, 435 ft-lbs of torque are achieved at all four wheels, at a mere 3300rpm! By now you are probably asking yourself how this is even possible on a 2.0L engine that made nearly half that power from the factory. By employing true twin-scroll technology into the cast turbo manifold and pairing it with a state-of-the-art BorgWarner EFR turbocharger, IE was able to keep spool time at a minimum and bring the fastest-spooling big turbo setup to the market. “We wanted to offer a kit that would dramatically increase the power output without making the car lose its amazing street-friendly drivability,” mentioned one of the IE engineers. We are told the IE450T leaves the car driving jus