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

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers.  The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience.  So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf.  In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...