Sizing up the proposed VW Mid Size SUV

Volkswagen has supposedly finally figured out how to compete in the American marketplace by building in America and adapting its cars to American tastes, essentially doing what other imports have done for decades. With this newfound wisdom come significantly higher sales expectations from management, perhaps too optimistic as judged by most critics. With the Jetta doing better than ever and with the Passat finally competing in the midsize segment VW has its sights set on entering new segments like crossovers.  As with the new Passat, VW would be far too late to join the segment to even pretend to be fashionably late, but as with the new Passat the final product should be more than competitive, see Passat's comparison record. With Volkswagen of America CEO officially confirming a midsize SUV many went ahead and placed it between the Tiguan and the Touareg sizewise. While the long rumored midsize Volkswagen SUV will definitely be priced between the Tiguan and the Touareg it is quite likely that it would actually be slightly bigger than the Touareg. Think the difference between the Passat and the CC. Just as the previous generation Passat was a few inches short of its competitors the Touareg is a couple of inches short of comfortably fitting a third row seat which is requisite for the class. In fact the yet unnamed, hopefully easily pronounceable , SUV  is likely to at least match the Passat lengthwise to compete with the GM Lambda triplets, Ford Explorer, Dodge Durango, Honda Pilot and others.  Here is a guide as how the VW competitor might look like.

May 2012 Sales Recap

With supplies issues essentially behind them Toyota and Honda were able to post incredible sales increases compared to their May 2011 figures and even surpassing 2010 figures by a significant margin as well. Elsewhere the Chrysler Group continued its strong sales increase of the past year with surging sales at Chrysler itself, Jeep, and Ram brand. On the luxury side Lexus and Acura followed their parent brands with sales returning to previous levels while Mercedes achieved a nearly 20% sales improvement over last year. Overall May 2012 versus May 2011 sales were robust whichever way you look at it with only a couple of brands declining over a year ago. Of note was the Chevy Volt's strong month of 1,680 sales compared to the LEAF's showing of 510.

Of course as good as May was some were clearly expecting a little more perhaps indicating a possible slowing down in June or perhaps just a desire run an article about missing expectations while nearly doubling your sales.