Aug 10: Passat & Accord Oddities

My brother just sent this pic to me of the new Passat he rented in England this past week. New Passat? What the heck is going on here, as this doesn't look anything like what is being sold in North America.

Actually, being the complete Car Guy, I do know what is going on here. The Passat sold here has never been a real sales success and certainly not the car that VW needed in their quest to be the world's biggest car manufacturer (including all their brands). The style was nothing special and it was over priced. Remedy? A Passat made only for the North American market..........

I once berated this 2012 redesign as boring and old looking. While not one of the cutting edge designs coming out of South Korea, it is pleasant looking in a conservative way. And it has been priced to sell. And it is actually selling. And it is entirely different from the Passats sold everywhere else.

A new strategy? Sure for VW, but look who else has been doing this for a few years.........

..........good ol' Honda has been selling a North American specific Accord for the last 8 or 9 years. It is quite a bit bigger than what Honda's customers can buy anywhere else in the world and it can be bought with a V6. Better? Not really, but "better" is a subjective term.

Many of you would say the Accord sold elsewhere is definitely much more fun to drive. How would you know? Simply pull into your local Acura dealer and drive a TSX. Same car  -  different name.

Take a look at the these pics.......

Everywhere else even gets a wagon version of the Accord. Acura did bring this into the US a couple of years back, but denied Canada this sensibly sized wagon. Remember, we prefer our suv's. Obviously, so do the Americans as the TSX wagon hasn't sold very well.

Next time you are outside of North America, check out the car nameplates. You might be surprised at what you see.

Until next time........