Routan vs Touran USA vs Europe

AmeridutchmanAmeridutchman Member Posts: 1
edited April 2014 in Volkswagen
Nice play with a word, but I wonder why can the ROUTAN not be as the TOURAN, namely 100% VOLKSWAGEN. I like the Routan but after looking closer to it I became disgust by seeing other then VW parts in this supposidly new minivan. I had the idea of getting two of these but now I will have to think real hard about it.
Why does VW not have the DIESEL or other European models on the US market? ....with the economical and envirometal situation? and what about a hybrid? why so much difference in these minivans? Other VW models are alike european models so how come this one is not?
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  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    All good questions. I think that VW wanted a mini van that already was legal in the USA. So they just had Chrysler build it. I would much rather have the German diesel version myself.
  • artgpoartgpo Member Posts: 483
    The Routan/Chrysler alliance was a result of a former Chrysler CEO going to VW after leaving Chrysler. The folks at VW did not want this van. This is what I read in the automotive press.

    The point may be moot as VW has suspended Routan production, at least for the next couple of months.
  • krisofseattlekrisofseattle Member Posts: 20
    "The Routan/Chrysler alliance was a result of a former Chrysler CEO going to VW after leaving Chrysler. The folks at VW did not want this van. This is what I read in the automotive press.

    The point may be moot as VW has suspended Routan production, at least for the next couple of months."

    This concerns me a little.

    So, the former Chrysler CEO created this new van that competes with his former company in a thinning and crowded market. Maybe it's a good thing for consumers with more choices, but his logic and possibly his ethic do not make sense to me intuitively.

    if routan gets orphaned, we could get Chrysler parts for mechanical repairs down the road, at least they would be cheaper than VW parts. This means i should get a service manual (probably expensive) to know which parts to substitute.

    When it comes to resale of an orphan, there are two sides: (1) it may become a novelty as in "limited" edition or a rare car; or (2) nobody would know about it and not wanting to buy something that was discontinued. i wonder how Pacifica is doing with resale - at least many more of them were sold.
  • bvdj84bvdj84 Member Posts: 1,724
    Yuck!! Chrysler and VW?? This better be the only model Chrysler touches!

    VW better be very careful! People catch wind of Chrysler having a hand in any of their line up, perhaps lead to bad news! Yuck! Chrysler has their vans, but everything else, well, I am not sure there are people looking at say a chrysler vehicle then going to the VW dealer. Huge differences.

    I simply cannot believe VW went this route. I wondered why they chose to have a similar look to the chrysler van.

    Very disturbing. Sorry, no offense to anyone here. :confuse:
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I simply cannot believe VW went this route. I wondered why they chose to have a similar look to the chrysler van.

    I think it was a cheap way to offer a Mini van. They should have offered their much superior European vans to the US market with diesel engines.
  • krisofseattlekrisofseattle Member Posts: 20
    My guess is that they must have considered giving us a European. But their marketing dept. must have told them it wasn't going to work.

    The only way for them to make a business case probably was to build it in Canada.
    I think it cost them less that way.

    Remember Honda is being built in the South -- Alabama? And the quality of Honda has been going to toilet ever since...

    The trend for all van manufacturers is to have them built by clumsy (and cheaper) Americans, And soon, they will be built in Mexico or China.

    What can i say? :(
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