The United States has been a bit of a hold out territory for Volkswagen in its quest to overtake Toyota as the world’s largest automaker by unit sales. In response, the German automaker is offering ridiculously affordable leases in order to attract people to the brand, who might hopefully purchase a VW after they’ve revamped their lineup.
How inexpensive, exactly? According to Bloomberg, many dealerships are offering leases for a Volkswagen Jetta costing as little as $89 per month. One San Jose, California dealer is even offering the car for just $39 per month.
Volkswagen is on a mission to increase annual deliveries past 800,000 by 2018 in the US, but as of right now, that’s proving to be a tough nut to crack. That’s largely because the brand lacks a midsize SUV for the utility-loving country, while the pint-size Tiguan and fullsize Toureg fail to gain traction. Meanwhile, sedans like the Volkswagen Jetta and Passat are too plain to stand out, and can’t possibly compete with the tremendously popular (while equally plain) Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
The planned midsize SUV, based on the VW CrossBlue concept, ought to inject new life into a market less than enamoured with current Volkswagen offerings. Bloomberg reports that other strategic measures being taken include planning new product releases every 5 years, and moving from a 7-year interval between refreshes to a 3-year schedule. Such things might very well pay-off in the long-term, but the near-term can hardly be helped.
So, the automaker is leaning on leases, offering the Volkswagen Jetta for about as much as your monthly phone bill, and hoping it’s enough to bring consumers back into showrooms when they have something big to report.
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