Oct 27th, 2008 by RJ Menezes
Remember Volkswagen’s new Scirocco? You don’t? We don’t blame you, since when it came out it got mediocre coverage here in North America, and for good reason. You see VW didn’t want us all getting exited over a car we would not get.
Though the Scirocco would have probably sold in O.K. numbers here, fears of it cannibalizing GTI sales and a weak dollar at the time meant it would’ve only gotten here at a price outside of its key demographic customer’s reach. So it seemed that the new Scirocco’s unveiling came and went with the passing winds of automotive news.
Seems that things are about to change though. Insiders within VW are saying that higher-ups are seriously reconsidering the Scirocco for the U.S. market. With the dollar gaining on the euro every day, it no longer seems like such a risk.
Steve Keyes, a spokesman for Volkswagen Group of America Inc., said the company is considering selling a “limited edition” type of the Scirocco in the United States that would have more horsepower and better equipment to justify it’s higher price tag than that of a GTI. With the current GTI and Scirocco both making use of VW’s 2.0-liter direct injection turbo four cylinder, it wouldn’t be too hard to up the boost and give the Scirocco a 30-or-so horsepower boost over the already potent 200hp GTI. Such is the nature of turbocharged engines that this could be achieved with the most minimal R&D and cost from Volkswagen’s side.
“People are looking at: ‘Would it make sense? What are the volumes?’ and all that,” Keyes told Automotive News at a press event in Wolfsburg, Germany, last week. “There’s no real decision yet, but we’re now discussing whether maybe there’s another way to bring a Scirocco here, positioning it a little bit differently.”
The Scirocco might be a smart move for Volkswagen, but as always, pricing is a big factor in people’s decision making since they are usually already paying a premium for a imported European vehicle. Hopefully the Scirocco will have enough of an allure to bring people back into VW showrooms. That’s if Volkswagen brings it here, of course…
-Source: Autoweek
-Photo: Volkswagen AG
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