Mex beetle

Darby wrote:
>
> Ray wrote:
>>
>> Never see much about the Mexican built bugs in the magazines. Why?
> Is
>> it because they are not readily available in the US, or that they
>> are not worthy of attention? The last edition of these mexican bugs
>> are commanding prices like $14-16 K. Do the Europeans and
>> Australians know something that we don't?
>>
> @@ Thats a good question ! The Mex cars seemed to have gotten a bad
> rap and I have no idea why ? I have 2004 Ultima Edition and it it
> one of the finest built Bugs I have ever seen
>
I have talked to one of the guys that works at one of the magazines
and part of the reason they didn't do regular articles on the
Mexican Bugs is because whenever they did, they would get hundreds
of phone calls at the office by morons asking how they can get one
in the USA. Since they couldn't be brought in as a complete current
model year, they were reluctant to promote them.
BTW Darby, according to the US FTC, an automaker can only call a car
a 2004 model if the car was made on Jan 1, 2004. Thus, there can
never be a 2004 Mexican Beetle since they stopped making them almost
6 months ago. But then the Mexicans don't have to adhere to US
laws.....

Darby wrote:
>
> bruce wrote:
>>
>> Darby wrote:
>>>
>>> Ray wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Never see much about the Mexican built bugs in the magazines. Why?
>>> Is
>>>> it because they are not readily available in the US, or that they
>>>> are not worthy of attention? The last edition of these mexican bugs
>>>> are commanding prices like $14-16 K. Do the Europeans and
>>>> Australians know something that we don't?
>>>>
>>> @@ Thats a good question ! The Mex cars seemed to have gotten a bad
>>> rap and I have no idea why ? I have 2004 Ultima Edition and it it
>>> one of the finest built Bugs I have ever seen
>>>
>> I have talked to one of the guys that works at one of the magazines
>> and part of the reason they didn't do regular articles on the
>> Mexican Bugs is because whenever they did, they would get hundreds
>> of phone calls at the office by morons asking how they can get one
>> in the USA. Since they couldn't be brought in as a complete current
>> model year, they were reluctant to promote them.
>> BTW Darby, according to the US FTC, an automaker can only call a car
>> a 2004 model if the car was made on Jan 1, 2004. Thus, there can
>> never be a 2004 Mexican Beetle since they stopped making them almost
>> 6 months ago. But then the Mexicans don't have to adhere to US
>> laws.....
>>
>> Well, if a car has a 2004 VIN number and 2004 identification plate
> then there is a pretty good chance that folks would recognize the
> car as a 2004. 2003 production stopped May 30. There was 15 days
> 2004 regular production then the factory re-tooled for the Ultima
> Edition and produced 3000 from July 01 - 30th with an additional 200
> or so "specials". That would mean that the 1993 golf and jetta dont
> exist either as they were only manufactured from May through
> December of 1992 before Ferdinand Piech pulled the plug and made
> some design suspension & brake changes. They were back in April of
> 1993 as 1994 models.
>
I don't make the rules, I'm just stating what they are.
I find it highly unlikely that there wasn't a single Golf or Jetta
made between Dec 92 and Apr 93. There is no automaker in the world
that could survive stopping production for that long of their top 2
selling models.
Ever seen an 83 Corvette? They don't exist. Yet the Vette was never
out of production.

Darby wrote:
>
> bruce wrote:
>>
>> Darby wrote:
>>>
>>> bruce wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Darby wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Ray wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Never see much about the Mexican built bugs in the magazines. Why?
>>>>> Is
>>>>>> it because they are not readily available in the US, or that they
>>>>>> are not worthy of attention? The last edition of these mexican bugs
>>>>>> are commanding prices like $14-16 K. Do the Europeans and
>>>>>> Australians know something that we don't?
>>>>>>
>>>>> @@ Thats a good question ! The Mex cars seemed to have gotten a bad
>>>>> rap and I have no idea why ? I have 2004 Ultima Edition and it it
>>>>> one of the finest built Bugs I have ever seen
>>>>>
>>>> I have talked to one of the guys that works at one of the magazines
>>>> and part of the reason they didn't do regular articles on the
>>>> Mexican Bugs is because whenever they did, they would get hundreds
>>>> of phone calls at the office by morons asking how they can get one
>>>> in the USA. Since they couldn't be brought in as a complete current
>>>> model year, they were reluctant to promote them.
>>>> BTW Darby, according to the US FTC, an automaker can only call a car
>>>> a 2004 model if the car was made on Jan 1, 2004. Thus, there can
>>>> never be a 2004 Mexican Beetle since they stopped making them almost
>>>> 6 months ago. But then the Mexicans don't have to adhere to US
>>>> laws.....
>>>>
>>>> Well, if a car has a 2004 VIN number and 2004 identification plate
>>> then there is a pretty good chance that folks would recognize the
>>> car as a 2004. 2003 production stopped May 30. There was 15 days
>>> 2004 regular production then the factory re-tooled for the Ultima
>>> Edition and produced 3000 from July 01 - 30th with an additional 200
>>> or so "specials". That would mean that the 1993 golf and jetta dont
>>> exist either as they were only manufactured from May through
>>> December of 1992 before Ferdinand Piech pulled the plug and made
>>> some design suspension & brake changes. They were back in April of
>>> 1993 as 1994 models.
>>>
>> I don't make the rules, I'm just stating what they are.
>> I find it highly unlikely that there wasn't a single Golf or Jetta
>> made between Dec 92 and Apr 93. There is no automaker in the world
>> that could survive stopping production for that long of their top 2
>> selling models.
>> Ever seen an 83 Corvette? They don't exist. Yet the Vette was
> never
>> out of production.
>>
>
> @@ Look back at the sales figures. I worked for VW in 1993 and we
> came within reach of pulling out of the USA altogether. The 93 Golf
> & Jetta III's were not sold in North America other than California
> and Canada. The President of VWAG refused to allow the cars out to
> the general public. There were thousands of them at port that were
> put on "Quality Hold" VWs sales were 80% down and these cars were
> supposed to be our salvation. They were rushed into production and
> were deemed to be troublesome after he came to our Southern region
> and personally drove over 300 cars. They were all retrofitted with
> different rear brakes, insulated dash mountings, different wiper
> relays, sunvisors and the list went on and on. As a matter of fact
> all the further production cars were fitted with rear disc brakes
> for 94, even the base models as he was unhappy w/noise and
> performance. The 1993 cars were then put into fleet service,
> employee lease program ( $100.00 per month with insurance for a 93
> Jetta to VW employees and family) or sold in Canada having speedos
> retrofitted. In 93 we had the Cabriolet, Eurovan, Passat & Fox to
> sell. It was a very bad experience. We had a 45 point retrofit to do
> to the Fox as well. It was the end of "Americanized" VWs and the
> beginings of the long road to rebuilding the company. To answer your
> "There is no automaker in the world that could survive stopping
> production for that long of their top 2 selling models". We almost
> didn't.
>
VWoA is not an automaker, just a sales and service organization.
America isn't VW's only market. From what you say the US spec cars
had serious problems. I bet VW made Golfs and Jettas in Germany for
some of the other 150+ countries they are sold in around the world
at the time they had the problems in the US.