RSchneider
Elio Addict
Some VW Mexico and US info:
The VW plant in Mexico is in Puebla and has been in use since 1964. Since 1994, just about every Golf, Jetta and New Beetle in the US came from that plant. The new 2018 Tiguan will be built there too. If you go to a VW dealer later this year, the only VW's made outside of the NAFTA region for the US are the Touareg (Slovakia) and CC (Germany) (both of these constitute around 1% of US VW sales).
There is a VW plant in Chattanooga. It's been making the Passat for NAFTA countries, South Korea and the Middle East since 2012. Amazingly, the Chattanooga Passat has 85% North American content (not to be confused with American content). That plant has gone through an expansion in 2016 and now makes the brand new Atlas which will be for every market except for China (they have their own plant).
Since Mexican VW's showed up here in 1994, I really haven't heard of too many quality control problems. There were a few in early 1994 but after that, if people have complaints, it's not because they were made in Mexico. Usually it's because of typical German engineering where they jump the gun and make something too complicated early on and then you pay the price down the road. As of today, there are plenty of 15-20 year old VW's still on the road, so they can't be that bad.
Here's something interesting. A 1997 VW Passat (made in Germany) had an MSRP of $21,890. A 2017 VW Passat (made in America and 85% NA content) has a MSRP of $22,440. Accounting for inflation, that 1997 Passat would cost $32,917 today but the 2017 Passat would have cost $14,922 back then.
If VW can hit 85% for a plant in the US, it is completely doable for Elio to hit 90% North American Content. Even if Elio had to reduce to 85%, I don't see that as a deal breaker for anyone. Also, the Atlas production line started doing test runs since mid December 2016. Here we are 4 months later and you still can't buy one. It's scheduled to be released in May 2017. It just gives a good timeline as to what an experienced car manufacturer has to do from when the production line is operational until the vehicle is ready for the general public.
The VW plant in Mexico is in Puebla and has been in use since 1964. Since 1994, just about every Golf, Jetta and New Beetle in the US came from that plant. The new 2018 Tiguan will be built there too. If you go to a VW dealer later this year, the only VW's made outside of the NAFTA region for the US are the Touareg (Slovakia) and CC (Germany) (both of these constitute around 1% of US VW sales).
There is a VW plant in Chattanooga. It's been making the Passat for NAFTA countries, South Korea and the Middle East since 2012. Amazingly, the Chattanooga Passat has 85% North American content (not to be confused with American content). That plant has gone through an expansion in 2016 and now makes the brand new Atlas which will be for every market except for China (they have their own plant).
Since Mexican VW's showed up here in 1994, I really haven't heard of too many quality control problems. There were a few in early 1994 but after that, if people have complaints, it's not because they were made in Mexico. Usually it's because of typical German engineering where they jump the gun and make something too complicated early on and then you pay the price down the road. As of today, there are plenty of 15-20 year old VW's still on the road, so they can't be that bad.
Here's something interesting. A 1997 VW Passat (made in Germany) had an MSRP of $21,890. A 2017 VW Passat (made in America and 85% NA content) has a MSRP of $22,440. Accounting for inflation, that 1997 Passat would cost $32,917 today but the 2017 Passat would have cost $14,922 back then.
If VW can hit 85% for a plant in the US, it is completely doable for Elio to hit 90% North American Content. Even if Elio had to reduce to 85%, I don't see that as a deal breaker for anyone. Also, the Atlas production line started doing test runs since mid December 2016. Here we are 4 months later and you still can't buy one. It's scheduled to be released in May 2017. It just gives a good timeline as to what an experienced car manufacturer has to do from when the production line is operational until the vehicle is ready for the general public.