In what sounds like the most ill-conceived automotive idea in a long time, Volkswagen is planning to sell a mini-van in the United States called the Routan. I used to think VW should sell a mini-van here, because a) mini-vans have done well in the US, and b) VW has a lot of pull with my generation, who I thought would go for a VW over a Dodge Caravan.
Except this van actually IS a Dodge Caravan. Well, at least it’s built by Chrysler on the same platform as the caravan, according to Autoblog. And these days it seems like people are choosing “crossover” vehicles instead of minivans, so why add another model to a suffering market segment?
Maybe VW should focus on improving the reliability of its vehicles before adding what appears to be a doomed experiment to their lineup.
2 Comments
For what it’s worth, it’s not bad to look at. But I can’t bear to know it has a Caravan underneath.
With their cache and design ability, they could redefine the segment if they wanted to.
But platform sharing? with Chrysler? Oh Volkswagen, what’s happened to you!?
Oh, I agree it’s nice for a minivan - if a little too similar to the Honda Odyssey.
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