Volkswagen Will Redesign Core Models Every Five Years

Even for an automaker the size of Volkswagen, it’d be a bad idea to underestimate the competition. Despite its immense wealth and global reach, VW still doesn’t have quite the presence it wants in the US market. Basically, dominating the US is a key element to attaining the status of the world’s largest automaker in just a few years’ time. To help make that happen, and to keep up with other brands, VW has developed a plan to redesign and launch its core models every five years.

This isn’t such an unusual thing to do these days. In fact, VW has literally just copied the formula of Japanese and Korean carmakers as they’ve been extremely aggressive in making sure their main models are all-new or heavily refreshed every half a decade. For VW, we can expect to see a completely redesigned Jetta in 2017, with the Passat following in 2018. And like the Asian brands, VW is planning to offer those redesigned models with more standard equipment, specifically infotainment and navigation systems. Yes, there’s a greater investment required with this business model, but the payoff can be huge. However, it still all boils down to which brand builds the best cars with the right packaging and pricing.