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Today I gave up on the Polo GTI+ and cancelled my order.
Ordered a Golf GTI DSG in Isaac Blue Metallic with 19" Brescia's and Leather Viennas... Delivery date..... Next week.. Dealer gave me a good discount on it too because of the Polo problems I would have loved to have the Polo but 12 weeks without even a build date was getting silly. If they had been able to even tell me a firm build date as far as July then I would have been ok with knowing and lack of any information on VWs part is what tipped the boat for me.
I’m sure VW sees moving Polo production in Spain to the existing South Africa factory as a positive thing as the ‘bean counters’ within VW will be looking primarily at the cost savings and economies of scale of doing this. However..........all it seems to have done is put additional pressure on the South Africa production plant, which doesn’t seem to be able to cope with the current demand for the new Polo, and it’s created considerable customer frustration.
Do VW think that 40+ weeks from time of order to delivery to the customer of a mass produced product is acceptable? In reality, they probably don’t care, as they know the new Polo is in demand, so if some customers cancel their orders because of poor (or no) communication and excessive waiting times, other customers will take their place.
Will VW learn from the current situation and improve things for the production of future new models? Probably not. With the costs of dieselgate, I dare say the emphasis within VW will be on cost cutting, rather than making a financial investment in improving the current end to end ordering and production process to get cars to the customer more speedily.
VW’s priorities appear to be profit and cost cutting, and satisfied customers are probably quite a long way from the top of the priorities list.
Maybe a slightly cynical view, but that’s the way I see it.
SRGTD wrote: ↑Thu Apr 12, 2018 10:52 pm
I’m sure VW sees moving Polo production in Spain to the existing South Africa factory as a positive thing as the ‘bean counters’ within VW will be looking primarily at the cost savings and economies of scale of doing this. However..........all it seems to have done is put additional pressure on the South Africa production plant, which doesn’t seem to be able to cope with the current demand for the new Polo, and it’s created considerable customer frustration.
Do VW think that 40+ weeks from time of order to delivery to the customer of a mass produced product is acceptable? In reality, they probably don’t care, as they know the new Polo is in demand, so if some customers cancel their orders because of poor (or no) communication and excessive waiting times, other customers will take their place.
Will VW learn from the current situation and improve things for the production of future new models? Probably not. With the costs of dieselgate, I dare say the emphasis within VW will be on cost cutting, rather than making a financial investment in improving the current end to end ordering and production process to get cars to the customer more speedily.
VW’s priorities appear to be profit and cost cutting, and satisfied customers are probably quite a long way from the top of the priorities list.
Maybe a slightly cynical view, but that’s the way I see it.
I'm sticking with it for a couple of reasons,
1. The polo is a nice car and fits our needs exactly + I am getting my exact spec, colour and engine. The only thing I keep wondering about is not ordering LED headlights, but I just don't like the bling, I'm an under the radar kind of guy. Give me a grey car that does not look too flashy but starts every day and on the inside is specked up and has a turn of pace then I'm happy. An orange car with bright LEDs and a down specked interior and a non turbo engine is my idea of hell.
2. Even though I will have waited about 21 weeks for the Polo, my current cars 3 year PCP runs out in dec this year so I am getting close to breaking even on it. only real pressure on 32k miles is the next service at 36k I do about 1100 miles a month so with end June swap I'm close to needing a service. however with the new Polo currently complete in production and "on the way to the dealer" (I'm being told 8 weeks to collection from that point), its looking like an early /mid June collection, I should be at 35k miles then, just get away with it.
Take it from someone who waited 8 months for a Golf R, VW don't give a toss. You are just a number to them, i've bought 8 VWs and an Audi from new, and that kind of loyalty holds no sway with them either when you're phoning VW UK 6 months after ordering to ask what's the hold up and getting no answer. If residuals weren't so good on the performance models, i'd have stopped buying new years ago or ditched VAG altogether. They look nice (in an understated way), are well equipped (the higher model VWs, not Audi) and hold their value well, but aren't particularly reliable (VW had to stop trading on reliability claims back in the 90s after the MK3 Golf was such a crappy and unreliable rustbucket).
My Golf R has had about £4k's worth of warranty work, but it drives wonderfully when you swap out the woefully poor Bridgestone tyres for something able to keep grip and traction. If your new Polo GTI comes on Bridgestones, you'll be suffering tramping from a standstill and poor turn-in grip below 10C in the dry or wet.
VW are all about penny pinching right now - lots of standard equipment and unseen bits of trim disappearing from Golfs recently.
If VW were slow in fulfilling Performance model orders due to wanting to maintain exclusivity with very limited allocation then I could understand that, but the reality seems to stem from a lack of parts specific to the performance models. I saw this first hand when cheap lease deal Golf Rs were being made in less than 3 months, but ones with Pretoria wheel options were waiting an age. Waited 6 months for my Golf GTD before that too. You can have any BMW you like made and delivered from a fresh order in less than 8 weeks - VW are lagging way behind in that regard.
Still waiting for the opportunity to place an order for a manual GTI+ (hopefully before the next wave of price rises)
Same. Despite my order being placed mid January, my tracker was still at stage 00. Had enough of the guessing games and the lack of information and communication.
Went for a golf 1.4 TSI. It actually worked out about £16 extra a month, which isn’t bad at all, I reckon. Should have it in about 3 weeks.
I would have loved to have the Polo but 12 weeks without even a build date was getting silly. If they had been able to even tell me a firm build date as far as July then I would have been ok with knowing and lack of any information on VWs part is what tipped the boat for me.