Hi all, Time for a brief introduction. I've been lurking in this list for a long time, but have never posted... well, not intentionally. I posted a rant about Ubuntu a while back on my blog that seems to have been mirrored here, so I figured I might as well join. :-) Anyway, I'm Derek Shaffer, son-in-law of Deepa Mohan, who is also on the list. Regarding the New Beetle, I'm a little surprised that it is coming to India, though I guess this sort of marks a milestone in the types of vehicles that are available to the Indian market (if the Accord V6 didn't already do that). Vehicles available on the Indian market are typically vastly more oriented towards space efficiency and fuel efficiency than ones sold in the U.S. (Europe falls somewhere in-between), and vehicles whose shapes are determined by the styling needs rather than the functionality needs are uncommon. The New Beetle, while it is a very high quality machine and a very cool modern representation of the best selling car in history, is extremely space inefficient. It has a large footprint on the road and relatively little space for passengers and cargo. This is not a problem for the U.S. market, but on roads where every inch/cm counts, is it likely to sell? It will also be at the expensive end of the market, which may present an additional challenge for it as well. I'm going to be very interested to see how well it is accepted. Regarding reliability, the New Beetle is not immune to the electrical issues that are typical of VWs (and therefore Audis and Skodas -- all from the same parts bins), but I think most buyers are aware that there is a trade-off between Japanese reliability and European road behavior (personally, I certainly prefer the latter). VWs and Skodas seem to have done well enough in India.
-Derek ----- Original Message ---- From: Thaths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Sent: Monday, 18 August, 2008 11:55:57 PM Subject: Re: [silk] VW to launch beetle in India next year On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 10:23 AM, Sean Doyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Otherwise - a nice car. The new Beetle? A nice car?! While it looks great - an excellent offspring of an illustrious parent - inside and out, I've heard awful horror stories about maintenance woes and frequent breakdowns. Thaths -- "I saw this in a movie about a bus that had to SPEED around a city, keeping its SPEED over fifty, and if its SPEED dropped, it would explode. I think it was called, 'The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down'." -- Homer J. Simpson Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com