Volkswagen dealers heard plans from the brand’s new leadership team to further localize engineering and development in North America in the near future, as well as plans to change the way its vehicles are pitched to the public, according to dealers who attended the brand’s make meeting Saturday.
“We got to hear Pablo’s plans about bringing a lot of investment, design and engineering to Chattanooga, away from other parts of the world, which could be groundbreaking, even life-changing for the brand,” said Charlie Hall, new chairman of the Volkswagen National Dealer Advisory Council, referring to VW of America CEO Pablo Di Si. “We might be able to finally break out of this boutique brand image that we’ve lived with in the U.S. for so long.”
Former VW council Chairman John Luciano said Di Si, head of sales Andrew Savvas and other members of the VW of America management team delivered an upbeat message about the brand’s plans for growth. And they received questions about what he called “standard stuff: parts, future product plans, production forecasts, etc.”
