VW Dealers Revolt Is Building

Volkswagen badge (Credit: Volkswagen)

VW is in some seriously deep crap. It’s getting sued by the United States and a few other governments, sales are way down, vehicle values are dropping like overpriced German rocks, and now dealers are seeing blood.

Remember that your friendly neighborhood Volkswagen dealer, like everyone else, was amazed at the German engineering wizardry that was the TDI engine. They’ve been victims of the grand fraud known as Dieselgate. And they’re not taking it sitting down.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was VW of America CEO Michael Horn leaving suddenly. Whispered suspicions of him being forced out have flown around. It doesn’t matter if they’re true, because the situation is the same: VW dealers are way beyond mad.

Like Automotive News reported, quite a few dealers felt like Horn was their only champion. With him gone, they now feel like they’re getting screwed over worse than ever. For now they’re grumbling, but don’t think an open revolt isn’t in the works. It’ll just take the right issue to spark an explosion. Then VW will really have a mess on its hands.

Considering how badly VW brass has been managing the whole Dieselgate crisis, especially in the US, don’t expect a magical solution. The seven-seater SUV has been delayed for the foreseeable future, and that was probably dealers’ big cash cow. Instead, they have a lot of cheap, lightly used Jetta TDIs, if anyone’s interested.