VW released a new commercial today to support their “People First” warranty, and there’s not a lot of details about their new extended six-year/72,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. But there is a lot of feel-good hippie vibe legacy, which has always been an instrumental part of VW’s American legacy.
There’s some original footage, and some new overlay of vintage Woodstock footage. VW has a bit of an image problem to repair, and this is how it’s going to be done. expect more of the same.
This “Band-Aid” doesn’t cover the damage they did to themselves.
A big step in the right direction. Hope this warranty program last’s longer then the 10 year 100k mile warranty VW offered in the mid ’90’s and only lasted a couple of years or so.
Establishing a ubiquitous and trustworthy service network is arguably one of the reasons VW became so popular in the US.
My recent experience with VW Service (for my wife’s Routan, which is a rebadged Grand Caravan) was so utterly horrible, we will never set foot on a VW lot again.
Wow Ed, I had always figured you for one of the “True Believers”! The dealers are very hit or miss though, with mostly misses. My local one (Ed Carroll) is a combo with Porsche and Audi and they do seem to take pains to not make the whole experience miserable, likely being fully aware that there is lots of future upsell possibility on the same patch of asphalt…However, yes, my previous prior VW’s back in CA left much to be desired when then was a dealer service issue.
Still a Believer™, as long as it’s air-cooled!
Bet I hardly ever see it. VW ads in the US tend to be terrible. I have seen ads for the Atlas on line, and they aren’t very good, but I’ve never seen one on the tube. Actually did see an ad for the new Tig on TV, once. Terrible ad. About 99% of the VW ads I see are touting the latest lease offer on the same tired old Jetta they have had for years.
Why don’t we get the sort of ads the Brits do?
Brilliant ad. Has the same vibe as the Miata ad of a couple years ago.
We did get this spectacular ad for an earlier generation of Golf Cabriolet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IVkQOnEYJQ
One of the all-time greatest car commercials IMHO….
They can offer a 100 year/1,000,000 mile warranty…but when you factor in the lackluster attitude of dealership service departments it’s kind of pointless.
Any warranty on anything is only worth something when the manufacturer and it’s dealers honor it.
The TDI Touareg we bought back in 2012 had a 100k warranty on the powertrain. At the time that was not the case for the gassers. I’m pretty sure it was for all TDi’s but definitely on the V6 ones. Almost nobody of the general public or enthusiasts are/were aware of it, they didn’t really publicize it (to VW’s detriment)
Anyway, I think the fact that the new warranty is transferable in full is a big deal. Not all are, Hyundai/Kia for example slashes the 100k to 50k if you sell it. With many people only keeping a car for a few years (gee, who could I be talking about?) this would certainly help with resale.
Extended bumper-to-bumper warranty not being honored in this case.
For Sale: VW Bus – “Runs and drives.”
“Running when parked.”
“Project Car”
Yes Ed – but farked when running.
Btw, very funny video, Johannes.
Re VW “owner’s dealer experience”. Over the last 3 1/2 years, I have taken mine to two different dealer shops for service and always been satisfied with the outcome. Had a puncture a few months ago and took it to the dealer so I could ogle the new Tiguans that were coming into stock. Not only did they repair the tire for free, they washed and vacuumed the car. Had a tiny rattle in the rear a couple years ago. Took it in and they diagnosed and corrected the issue (missing clip on the left rear brake) on the first try, no charge under the 3 year warranty.
Rich Bennett has about 30K on his Mk 7 Golf and has received excellent service from the dealer in Toledo.
The absolute worst service I ever had was from a Lincoln-Mercury store.
2017 J D Power dealer service satisfaction rankings. VW is a pinch above average, trailing Toyota by 1 point and topping Hyundai, Honda and Ford. The bottom of the rankings is dominated by FCA brands.
http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-us-customer-service-index-csi-study
Almost all the cars at the bottom of that list are ChrFiaRams. That Mazda is firmly sandwiched between two of them does not bode well for them, as they are not that healthy. Even Mitsubishi is rated better, and their salesmen completely ignored me when I wandered onto their lot once.
Nissan is the highest rated Japanese company, which agrees with my own experiences with them. I’m on my fifth Nissan because the service experience is pleasant and un-rude.
The Mitsu guys probably just forgot what it’s like to have someone come in.
IIRC, I was wanting a base 5 speed Mirage (the DE?) with a radio and a/c as the only options and they could smell the tiny commission they would earn for their two hours work and ignored me in favor of people who they would make more from. Seriously, I was there for ten minutes and talked to no one despite wandering thru the lot and the showroom. After waiting that long, I figured their service department would be similarly disinterested and unavailable when I needed warranty work and left.
I still see a DE every now and then. They’re thin on the ground now.
Many of the worst incidences in the business world – and their efforts at recovery – become business school case studies. I’m sure the VW diesel debacle and their recovery efforts will receive the same treatment.
In this case, imho, this advertisement heads in the wrong direction. VW’s decades- old success with the boomers is a trite cliche that probably will not resonate with younger (under 50) consumers that are the future for VW. Woodstock – vibe hippie retreads are meaningless ancient history for many.
The boomer generation won’t save VW. And make no mistake, given current events, VW needs saving. Their future, at least as a brand, and maybe as a manufacturer is not assured, as their liabilities mount and their reputation slides. Indeed the fictional hippies featured in Paul’s ‘Microbus’ advertisement probably would be appalled at Dieselgate and the cover-up.
I hope, for VW’s sake, this marketing effort is just a stop -gap measure until better efforts come along. Ultimately, the future lies in electric cars and the sooner VW accepts this fact, and takes substantial and publicly – promoted commitments in that direction, the better.
Ultimately, the future lies in electric cars and the sooner VW accepts this fact, and takes substantial and publicly – promoted commitments in that direction, the better.
Some countries in the EU, and China, have made commitments to ban internal combustion engines in the coming decades. VW is the market leader in both the EU and China and has responded with an aggressive program to roll out electric models.
VW Group makes 300 models globally, will electrify them all by 2030
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1112856_vw-group-makes-300-models-globally-will-electrify-them-all-by-2030
A “reborn” Microbus (the I.D. Buzz concept) is confirmed to be part of that electric program in the next decade. Hippie lovers, rejoice! (eventually)
I think you will need to be a “rich” hippie to be able to purchase one. What’s the projected price point?
You need to be a rich hippie to buy any good condition split windshield VW Bus nowadays.
I can only imagine this ad is for the older folks…..
Besides ~ only a fool would let dirty, smelly, nasty & _wet_ Hippies into their beloved Kombi .
I vividly remember how awful every VW Dealer’s workshop was in the 1960’s ~ rude to the extreme, even to people with new VW’s who were well dressed and educated .
Part of why I trained and opened an independent VW Shop .
-Nate
Come on Nate, hippies aren’t nasty.
But I’ll admit I would have a front bumper sticker saying No Wet Ones.
I used to work in advertising. I hate this kind of heartwarming claptrap. It was once charming, but almost every company is doing it now, with the feel good stuff, it’s just become benign. The only thing that saves it is VW having the money to buy usage of the classic song. I guess I’m a bit bitter/jaded about the ad biz now. That’s why I quit. I couldn’t keep bullshitting people. The only kind of ad that works for me is something smart and funny.
VW should stop advertising for a few years, regroup and come to the table with something that’s not insulting. They did a horrible thing to their base customers.
I have to agree. This ad is a waste of money, particularly because the generation that attended Woodstock has probably been buying Toyotas for at least the last 30 years. This is not quite as egregious as the recent Subaru ads, but getting awfully close. (I really can’t stand the one where they have little badges you can glue to your tailgate showing your support for whatever. It’s like those stupid charm bracelets for adult women. I feel no need to let everyone on the road know I like dogs, but somehow the wizards at Subaru’s ad agency thought this is a good idea… Sorry, got totally off topic there…) You know a company is in trouble when they have to mine their history selectively for good ideas.
I was seven years old when Woodstock happened, I kind of remember the hippie buses and such. Now, I might be the right demographic to buy a Passat, but this ad tells me little about the current line up. Other than a long warranty. Like Hyundais and Kias have.
I wonder if you’ll be restricted to using VW dealers for your service only, otherwise, that kills much of the appeal for me.
Do you remember this one?
There was another TV ad in the mid 60’s that showed a Beetle floating in a pond, and slowly sinking as the ad narrator states, “The VW Beetle, it definitely floats, but not indefinitely”. It ends with an underwater shot with fish swimming around the submerged car. Can’t find it on you tube.
VW of America needs to use the add agency VW of England uses. Car ad’s currently shown in the US are feeble indeed.
Ah, you want to talk classic VeeDub ads?
Having grown up in the west Michigan lake effect snow belt, this one had particular resonance.
There is a name for an act that feels good yet produces nothing. That is this commercial.
As one who bought a new Passat in September ’14, right before the VW Diesel thing started, I’ll admit to being rather disappointed with VW as a brand. However, it didn’t exactly upset my apple cart as there have been differing questionable actions by numerous manufacturers at different times. I’ve remained quiet as my opinion about the diesel brouhaha may (or may not) run counter to that of others.
Overall, I’ve been quite satisfied with having a VW product, sucky commercials aside. The warranty on the Passat lapsed on September 1 when it had 32,000 miles on the odometer. The car has been great thus far, although some skeptics will say everything will now start falling off and breaking. We’ll see.
The service department at the VW dealer in Columbia, MO, where we bought the car, has been very good and much better than the sales department.
In August I took the car in for a once-over before the warranty expired. I reminded the service manager that the reputation of VW isn’t always the greatest and wanted to know what to expect as the car aged as all cars, like people, have various symptoms of aging. He said the best thing I did was to buy a base model as electronics are the real gremlins they have seen as Passats age. He said they were just starting to see 1.8T cars (as seen in the Passat) hit 100,000 miles and they’ve seen no issues at all with the drivetrain.
It was during this trip I saw 37 TDI cars parked out back, awaiting their fate. A week later, I saw a quite new Jetta TDI being test driven; it was in stock at the Ford dealer here in town. I figured that was the last one I’d see being test driven.
Frankly, the Woodstock commercials need to go. I’m 45 and that event was well before my birth so it’s as wasted on me as Starbucks and Dancing With The Stars.
Do I feel old.
One weekend my parents came back from a trip to upstate N. Y. to see some relative (I forget who) and they immediately related how bad the traffic was on the way home (none of us knew what it was that had tied up traffic until the evening news came on). As a kid in high school I had no idea what Woodstock was, or what it meant/would mean to millions of people.
Flash forward “a bit” to the spring of 1970 : I was in Navy boot camp in Chicago and a buddy and I were on our only “pass” out of boot camp. One of the things we (finally) decided to do after checking out the U. S. O. was go to see a movie. WOODSTOCK the movie had just opened in theaters so we thought : why not? 1/2 to 3/4s of the acts I had never heard of before, Sha Na Na? Were they a real act or an impromptu band of musicians killing time?
Anyway, I grew up in the 50s and 60s and it might not be a bad idea for whoever is in charge at VW’s current ad agency to go back and look at those old print and TV ads.
Flash forward “a bit” to the spring of 1970 : I was in Navy boot camp in Chicago
Beat you by a year! At Great Lakes in August of 69. One Sunday started out pretty normal. Off to chapel, then lunch. Came out of the mess to find bales of Chicago newspapers on the sidewalk. The big front page headline was the Sharon Tate murder.
I totally agree re: Woodstock. I’m a few years older than you and it was still a few months before my time. Anyone who worked on this campaign who actually remembers it or was there has to be well into their senior years by now (not that there’s anything wrong with that of course). It’s fun to look at I guess but I really can’t relate and it for sure isn’t going to make me run out and buy a car based on the imagery. Maybe if they actually finally produced the new Bus and put it in the ad, i dunno.
An ad that might resonate with a lot of people would be a guy pulling up to a VW service dept in a semi-beat VW with a bad window regulator, nervous that he’s the third owner and the service guy hopping into the car, noticing it has 71,999 miles and pulling it around back where Klaus is ready to remove the door panel and replace the regulator while the owner feasts on Schnitzel, a Pretzel and a room temperature Coke with no ice.
And I’m a VW fan…
I wonder how much exhaust emissions a split-window Microbus emits?
Happy Motoring, Mark
For those who don’t remember Woodstock, I like this ad, but I never saw it on TV.
Never saw this ad on the tube either.
I have never seen an ad on the tube for the Mk I Tiguan.
This one I did see, years ago, when VeeDub still had decent ads in the US. The perfect appeal to people watching their lives drain away in the sameness of the daily grind.
Last one for tonight, with a bit of vibe from “The Graduate”. Never saw this one on the tube either. Is that a cornbinder pulling the travel trailer?
OK, how do you embed Youtubes here? The “copy embed code” feature in Youtube doesn’t work, neither does “copy video URL” or copying the actual URL. What’s the secret?
OK, how do you embed Youtubes here?
I do a couple carriage returns after my typed text, then copy the youtube URL from the address bar and past it in the text box here.
I do remember seeing this ad. Again, it’s from a dozen years ago.
I always thought that this one was cute, but was surprised how it made its way onto American TV, considering how prudish the FCC can be:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zVIWcDIuxZ0
And who could possibly forget this one?
(And my videos didn’t imbed here either, however this HAS worked occasionally in the past.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iyR3w9Bl9VQ
Nope, Steve, my posts with Youtube URLs do not display as embedded, even if I pad them with up to three carriage returns before and after, whether I include https://, http://, or nothing before the www. Does it only work in certain OSs or web broswers? I’m using the current version of Google Chrome running on Windows 7.
Does it only work in certain OSs or web broswers? I’m using the current version of Google Chrome running on Windows 7.
I don’t know if it’s OS or browser specific. I think that is a question for Paul. I’m using Firefox and Win 10.
You may be onto something here…. when I’ve gotten it to work, it was from my work PC, using Google Chrome. This morning’s posts were from my iPad using Safari. May be something to it.
Anyway, the two videos I posted above were “The Birds and the Bees” and the awesome Super Bowl commercial from a few years back featuring a very young Darth Vader wannabe trying to use the Force.
This one is my all-time favorite, bar none:
Wow, this one really rubs me the wrong way. I’ve always had positive feelings about VW, but this kind of commercial is so shallowly manipulative that it works against the intended result. And using Joe Cocker’s amazing cover (a piece of music I have a much, much softer spot for than for any VW product) approaches sacrilege to me :-).
If you’re really going to make a commercial about ‘getting by with a little help from your friends’, VW, don’t forget to include your friends in the 1930’s as well. I can hardly wait for the alternate video on YouTube.
The longer warranty is a great idea. Just stick with that, focus on your skills in design and engineering, and spare us the emotional b.s. You’re a car-maker that screwed up, not our best friend from high school.
It works.
Has anyone who reads this site ever been influenced by a car ad? No. We’re enthusiasts (or oddballs). We scour reviews by the reputable. We test drive. We buy knowledgeably – we think, anyway. More often than not, we buy secondhand.
However, for the vast, vast majority, the car moves them about, not within.
Adjust your thinking to something you could care less about. For me, computers. Apple pays scandalously little tax; that is an arrogant social insult. But I can’t shop around meaningfully, or buy secondhand, or fix my own, partly because I don’t know but largely because I don’t care. So an ad reminding me of history (“We were first” or “We changed the world” or somesuch, even if they were not and did not) and now “We’re paying our share” (or somesuch, even if they aren’t), plus a name for unbreakability AND now a big warranty, and I’ll buy it.
Very well said.
We constantly forget that we’re this odd, nerdish little minority in the world. And, quite frankly, what we believe in the automakers couldn’t care less. Because most of us are too cheap a bastards to buy a new car.
The ad left me with one personal thought:
What would life had been like if dad had said “yes” to Volkswagen of America’s offer of that new dealership in Indiana, PA back in 1966?
You ever seen ‘Tin Men’ with Richard Dreyfus and Danny DeVito?
My Dad’s life story in the ’60’s when he owned an aluminum siding company. I made sure to show this movie to him, he smiled but I think it hit a little too close to home. He had the finned Cadillac’s, bought a new one every other year, starting with a ’61 and ending with a ’65, but broke tradition when he bought his 67 Continental 2 door. Said he bought the Lincoln because of all the problems the various Cadillac’s had.
Hollywoodstock.
Joe Cocker would not approve.
You have to go with your strength and VWs only real strength in the US market is the lingering aura of its status as a flower-power icon (if only one that came to it quite accidentally).
The 70s is a decade considered cool by many Millenials and I think VW is trying to use a little nostalgia on them, as in “Ooohh, I can be a cool 70s hippie too if only I buy a Passat.”
You nailed it. Younger folks (at least out here) are perpetually influenced by this era. It speaks to certain almost timeless qualities.
Yup. The kids are hugely impacted by the mythology of that era. They’ll watch this and think:
“Hey that’s how I am. I’ve got lots of cool friends. I run around in the rain in my underwear at cool concerts. I would totally have been at Woodstock. I need to run out and buy a VW!”
Okay, yeah, sure.
I look at the ad and think, “where’s all the cigarettes?” Oh yeah, smoking is totally evil now, so in our rose colored John Lennon glasses world that this commercial inhabits, everyone has magically stopped smoking. In reality that van ought to be spewing smoke from every orifice.
“In reality that van ought to be spewing smoke from every orifice.“
…and not necessarily from cigarettes Heath. After all, it IS a micro-bus ?
You have to go with your strength and VWs only real strength in the US market is the lingering aura of its status as a flower-power icon (if only one that came to it quite accidentally).
VW’s problem in the US, for decades, has been a product placement problem. VW builds cars that are relatively small, and expensive, while Americans want everything to be big and cheap.
If VW becomes something other than a niche player in the US, it will be due to one fact: tastes in China, where VW is the largest selling brand, seem to be similar to tastes in the US. The extra big Passat we get in the US is available in one other market in the world: China. The big Atlas SUV we get in the US is available in one other market in the world: China, where it’s called the Teramont. The volume VW realizes in China makes these extra big models cost effective to design.
On the cheap front, there are many things in process at VeeDub. VW has officially announced, after several years of rumors, that they will introduce a cheap brand, using obsolete platforms, in China. They have also announced that Skoda India is being given the job of developing cheap products for the Indian market. Meanwhile, VAG corporate has announced that future Skoda and SEAT products will be more differentiated from VW products so there isn’t the degree of overlap there is now. For instance, probably everyone realizes a Skoda Octavia, third best selling model in the C segment, offers the same quality and performance as the Golf (best selling model in the C segment) at a 3-4% discount, which is a good 6-700 Euros. The savings are even more attractive on the Skoda Superb (second best selling D segment) vs the Passat (best selling D segment)
I honestly can only think of two VW commercials off the top of my head. One is the one that ran ten(?) years ago with two guys driving around aimlessly in a Golf with a mattress on the roof. The other was a Beetle commercial, from the seventies, showing a car show with the new models from Detroit, including the Hudson, contrasting with the same old VW Beetle. For some reason the “longer, lower, wider” jingle is still stuck in my head after 40 years.
Had they announced this 6 months ago, I might have grabbed a CC instead of my Sonata. It wasn’t about the price, but the warranty and the creature comforts. After my FCA experience I was determined to have a better warranty first and foremost (and loathe Honda after a bad Accord and Toyota bores me to tears).
Had they announced this 6 months ago, I might have grabbed a CC instead of my Sonata. It wasn’t about the price, but the warranty and the creature comforts
If you had gotten the CC, you might have a bad case of buyer’s remorse from the Arteon that is replacing the CC.
Here is a VW ad from 1997 that is really cool. Looks like it was filmed in Southern California.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_s5-R_JE4c
You’re right about it being shot in SoCal, specifically LA. That bridge over the nearly dry concrete river is a give away.
I don’t like that ad, because the guys are zeros. Would you want to drive a car that zeros drive?
This ad came out with the Mk VII Golf. Makes the point that the Golf can meet the needs of a wide range of people. Never saw this on in the US either.
That’s actually Depeche Mode’s David Gahan behind the wheel at 0.31. The song is Depeche Mode’s “People are People” from 1984. The interesting use of that song pretty much guarantees an audience of a lot of 40-50 somethings that’ll watch the whole ad to hear the different cover snippets.
The ad above though that Michael posted featured Trio’s “Da Da Da”, a German band whose early 80’s cult hit got a serious second life in the US after that 1997 MkIII ad aired.
Someone on VW’s ad team is a big New Wave fan…
Besides the da, da, da ad, I remember seeing this one from time to time. It gets my attention because it makes me wonder what is going on…also years old, with a Mk IV Golf.
This is one of the better classic Beetle ad’s.
The “Will” ad his hysterical. I also enjoyed this Squareback ad, especially the crack about jewelry.
Before the government stepped in and dictated that, if an automaker wanted to advertise fuel economy, they had to quote the EPA numbers, the big three in particular were making absurd claims, iirc there was one claiming over 20mpg in a Ford LTD. This was VeeDub’s response.
OMG, brilliant ad….of course, for Europe, not here..
Dieselgate was a huge fiasco, but I’m over it and it wouldn’t influence my decision to buy a Volkswagen.VW is still putting out a good product, much like they always have. With relatively affordable prices and now this added warranty coverage, VW presents itself as a highly appealing alternative to mainstream brands such as Toyota, Ford, Nissan, etc., especially for those who value the driving experience.