‘08 Geneva: Volkswagen Revives Scirocco Coupe for Europe
If you're in love with this car, but reside within the U.S., you're out of luck: Volkswagen has no plans to bring its new Scirocco, unveiled this week at the Geneva Motor Show, to the United States. We hear it's a matter of monetary exchange that's preventing the three-door from heading our way, but there were plenty of whispers that the car wouldn't be sent to the U.S. because it would all but render the Golf - especially in GTI trim - obsolete.
Perhaps so, but we certainly see plenty of Golf in the roofline. Much like the comparison of Lotus' second Elite to a "Gremlin that's been trod upon," we'd say the Scirocco almost resembles a Golf that's been flattened and elongated. Although fresh, the styling isn't anything revolutionary, especially if you've seen the previous IROC concept. That car's cues have migrated to the production Scirocco with little change, albeit it is toned down slightly for production.
Buyers will have their choice of direct-injection gasoline motors ranging from 122 to 200 PS, as well as a 140 PS TDI diesel, coupled either to a six-speed manual transmission or a seven-speed DSG semi-automatic gearbox. We're sure the Europeans will enjoy the car, but does the new Scirocco deserve a place in America? Tell us why or why not in the comments section below.
Comments
Mark
Interesting that VWoA managed to sell the first two Sciroccos here without rendering the Rabbit or its GTI variant obsolete. No, it's much better that today's VWoA is spending its time and resources preparing to flog a tarted up Town & Country rather than importing the newest real Volkswagens.
chartguy
With the weak US Dollar, VW can't sell anything for a profit here that is not built here.
We've seen this over and over, whether it's Mexico's law limiting used car imports or Honda closing Canadian plants and opening them Alabama. Our currency has essentially collapsed. The result is that a car manufactured abroad has to be priced at too many US dollars to be a good value in the US.
Paul In Jersey
Both the Volvo C30 and the Mini are similar in size to this. Both are made in Europe. Both are sold in the U.S.
VW has the economy of scale to its advantage and can't sell these in the US at a profit?
Interesting. Very interesting.
Roland M
Let me get this straight, bringing this to the US is a bad business decision but the Phaeton was a solid business decision? I guess I just don't understand the auto business...LOL
Donald
Why can't they just drop the GTI offerings over here, then keep the line-up as Rabbit, Jetta, then for performance in this size/class, offer the GLI (Jetta) and this Scirocco in GTI and R32/36 flavors. There would be no stepping on toes, and the styling of the Scirocco may be more appealing to the performance crowd than the GTI, as many perceive the traditional hatchback profile as looking too economy car-like.
With the lower sales numbers for the Rabbit over here than in Europe (because of the stigma of hatchback as an economy-only offering), VW could just keep the Rabbit as their basement offering, lavish the Jetta with options, and the Scirocco can be their higher performance offering, without the fear of stealing sales. As it is, the VW line-up is missing focus or energy, so it doesn't need multiple 3 or 5 door performance car options here, and the Scirocco would, at least, spice up the looks of their line-up, somewhat.
Oollyoumn
Looks wise, I like it, but it also looks about 700lbs too heavy, and being a VW, it likely is.
Steve
I guess I'm not sure what the point is? They already have the GTI and the R32... why do they need to spend resources making this car?
However, that aside... I really like it. I'm also just happier than can be to see that it's got the real manual in it, not the ever-boring, seemingly ubiquitous DSG.
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southern
Gee, a miniature Dodge Magnum.
The big one isn't selling anymore either.
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Eurothrasher
I have purchased 3 VW's new. 81' Diesel, 83' GTi, and 93' GTi 16V in Montanna Green. And restored a 73' Karman Gia cpe. I Just love VW's, but their CEO's must be brain dead, and totally out of touch with the consumer market. They lost their shirts with the 4matic Passat's, actually losing money on every sale, then they manufactured and imported the Pheaton for what ? To compete with Audi ? Get me a ticket on the next flight to Germany, I will gladly straighten them out!
dendron
Hmmm, looks a lot like a tarted up MazdaSpeed3. I bet VW would have to introduce this at somewhere close to the $40K level to make it viable to import to the U.S. Yeah, one can see why they wouldn't want to do that with the free falling dollar, when I can buy a tarted down Scirocco in the form of an actual MazdaSpeed3 for under $30K. At least, I could last week...
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Jonathan Fung
You know what? I just took a closer look at all of these live pics, and I have to take back what I said about the car looking awkward. It's pretty darn stylish. I actually wish they would bring this to America now. Ben should go work his magic quickly so that we can get these over here. It's a shame that monetary policy takes time. Maybe we'll get the next-gen.
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Jeb
Looks amazingly like the C30, especially in side profile.
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