Volkswagen Looking To Add 100 Dealers In The US

2015 VW Cross Coupe GTE Concept (Credit: Volkswagen)

Volkswagen is a big powerhouse in the automotive market, outside of the United States. The company has an aggressive plan to become the largest automaker in the world by 2018, but as it stands right now the paltry sales figures it’s putting up in America are standing in the way. Lest you think the Germans have given up on U.S. consumers after throwing inferior Passats and other questionable offers at them, it is indicating that it will be redoubling efforts in this part of the world.

According to a report from AutoNews, Volkswagen plans to gain better foothold in North America by adding an additional 100 dealerships in the United States, conveniently by the end of 2018. The idea is to locate those dealers where VW has little influence right now, or where it thinks it can grow its customer base quickly. Where exactly those would be located is a point of pure speculation.

The other big push Volkswagen is making involves giving American consumers what the automaker thinks they want: SUVs. While the Tiguan has done fairly well in the United States auto market, the Touareg has not pulled down nearly as many sales. Arguably one of the big things that was going against the Touareg was the name, but that will be fixed when VW launches the Cross Coupe GTE sometime between 2015 and 2017. A preview of things to come was put on display during the North American International Auto Show (or the Detroit Auto Show). The Cross Coupe looks like it could be a solid hit with American consumers, despite the questionable backend styling that hopefully will be worked out for the production version.

AutoNews points out an interesting fact about this new U.S. sales push. Even though VW has about 650 dealerships in the United States right now, which is more than the company has ever had in this market, it actually saw sales decline last year. Sheer volume of car dealers does not guarantee victory for Volkswagen, especially if it continues to shill out inferior sedans, no matter how inexpensive they are.