By Charles Krome
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December 3, 2011
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat—redesigned specifically to better fit the preferences of U.S. buyers—is obviously hitting its target. In fact, the new Passat has sold more units in its first two full months on the market than the old model did in all of 2010. The bottom line for VW’s all-new mid-size sedan: November deliveries of 6,018 units, for a staggering increase of more than 1,822 percent. The bottom line for Volkswagen: November sales of 28,412 units, representing an increase of 40.7 percent.
“November has been a tremendous month for Volkswagen,” said Jonathan Browning, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. “With the 2012 Passat named Motor Trend's Car of the Year, anticipated improvements in J.D. Power’s Sales Satisfaction Index and once again double-digit sales growth, the proof points of German Engineering and our commitment to the U.S. market are all starting to come together.”
And significantly, Brown’s comments about the Power Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI)—made before the results were released—were remarkably prescient. The SSI measures how satisfied new owners were with the dealership buying experience, and with all data now tabulated, VW ended up showing the largest improvement in the entire study. The automaker moved from the 13th spot among non-luxury brands all the way up to fourth.
Certainly making things easier for both dealers and customers alike are Volkswagen’s growing lineup of new products, including not only the Passat, but also the American-ized VW Jetta and the next-gen VW Beetle. The former went on sale last year as a 2011 model and quickly became a fixture on the monthly top-20 sales list. This year, sales of the Jetta (along with the Jetta SportWagen) are up by 58.9 percent through the end of last month, with the Jetta pair scoring a 15.6 percent increase in November.
The 2012 Beetle, also comprehensively redesigned for the current model year, recorded 1,656 November deliveries. This reflects a healthy 240 percent jump in sales last month, even though production was still ramping up at the time. VW’s list of November winners also features:
• Volkswagen Eos, +53 percent
• Volkswagen Golf/GTI, +35.5 percent
• Volkswagen Tiguan, +11.4 percent
• Volkswagen Touareg, +.4 percent
