« Reply #44 on: 02 September 2015, 15:53 »
About a 12-13 MK7 Golf R's within a mile radius of where we live. Half a dozen GTDs and one GTI.
VW have certainly done a sterling job at flooding the market with their R brand. My guess on why VW has offered those super cheap lease deals is;
- VW wanted to stifle competition with cheaply leased R's.
- Get their R brand out there to act as a halo across the other models.
- Up-sell customers so they don't think twice when it comes to leasing a new R or Audi RS3 in the future.
- Keep their factories busy building the higher value models which they know they can resell in 2 years.
I think a lot of the cheap lease stuff was totally unintended by VW.
The R was a poor seller in mk6 guise and VW were having second thoughts as to whether to even bring the mk7 R to the UK according to interviews from top VW people when the GTI was launched. Whether this was marketing BS or not nobody will ever know but I can well believe it.
The leasing companies get promo deals on slow selling models just as the Scirocco R has had cheap lease deals recently, but what VW weren't expecting was the fact that the cheap deals went viral on the internet meaning they ended up inundated with orders and pulled the plug on a lot of them that were 'sold' to private buyers on business terms.
The long wait lists now suggest VW are keeping production down rather than ramping it up on the R model allowing them control of the used prices that still remain buoyant for dealers meaning VWFS get a decent slice from them several times over.
It is all being stage managed by VW and the rave reviews in the motoring press plus public awareness of the R brand that was pretty much invisible prior to leasegate will just add to VW's long term profits on the model as they ride the crest of a wave. The R400 must be a bit of a dilemma for VW UK at the moment.
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‘25 8.5R, ‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
