Hmmm
At this point I think you should make it public knowledge.
I agree, though it does need to be done with "tact" and restraint, rather than a "bull in a china shop" aproach.
1. Most owners of the GTi bought it cos it had extra power not cos it is limited.
I take it that was a typo, and you actually meant to add "Edition 30".
And whilst I agree with your stance on the extra power, I disagree with the "limited" point.
2. I dont think many people care that they went over the run of 1500 as they have their car and thats all that matters to them.
3. Most people do not even know that the car went over its limited edition run.
For point 2, I disagree. The GTI, in whatever guise, is an "enthusiasts car" - and even more so in the Ed30. Therefore, I would strongly suspect that the vast majority of original owners of the Ed30 will have done some "research" before purchasing. Weather they are actually "registered members" of forums such of this can miss the point, as many peeps will simply Google "GTI Edition 30", and read whatever results they find. There will be a mix of sites, such as Vortex, all the various "blog" sites, and then the forums. For the forums, they will probably just read the relevant thread as a "guest", and then move onto the next result from the search. So basically, there will be a huge awareness that the car was sold as a limited run of just 1500 units.
However, for your point 3, I do tend to agree. Many, many Ed30 will have just picked up their car from the stealers, and not bothered following the internet sites - but are just enjoying ownership of what is a truely excellent motor car. So I reckon there are a considerable number of Ed30 who are not aware that the limited production over-run by quite some margin.
I think you should take it up a level.
Which is exactly what SteveP is doing, by going to VWUK. Ever heard of the old saying - "you must learn to walk before you can run"? One really needs to let VWUK have a proper bite at the cherry, before moving on up the chain. To side-step VWUK will probably just get their backs up.
1. Get an email through to VWVortex.com. They are huge in the VAG world.
Bollox. VWvortex
may be "big", but amongst the very small nuggets of good info, they are literally swamped with utter crap. Vortex is just like all yankie sites, AudiWorld and AudiZine are also both horrendous. Even the "editorial" content of their sites publish utter nonsence. For example, AudiWorld adamantly state that the B6 and B7 S4 had "FSI" - which is pure fantasy and lies!
On another yankie Audi site, they are adamant that the B7 RS4 was NOT produced in an Avant version - again, pure BS.
Sorry, but getting any of the US sites involved would be an extremely bad idea, and should anyone actually referr VWUK to such sites, they VWUK would simply kick it into touch without any further consideration. All the yankie sites (apart from the official AoA ad VWoA press sites) are not seen as a "reliable source".
Forgive me if I appear a little hostile or agressive on this issue - but I have way to much experience of the sheer arrogance on the yank sites, and those who know better will actually give them a "wide berth".
2. Get at least three people from every forum to email car magazines etc about the issue.
I agree wholeheartedly about trying to maximise numbers, but the "blanket aproach" you suggest wont really be the ideal way. Would VWUK really take any notice of "MaxPower" mag?
Or would they take any notice of dare I say, SCN? Whilst SCN is a valuble resource, they, by the nature of their forum title, concentrate on Seats. Yes, their members may also have Ed30s, but VWUK will quite rightly say that a Seat website is totally irrelevant to a Volkswagen issue.
3. Dont focus on one dealership. Focus on as many dealerships as possible.
It depends on what you mean by "focus". For individuals, then their contract of sale will be with their supplying stealer, but for the kind of "group action" which SteveP is persuing, then the dealers are sort of now out of the loop. However, I reckon it would be a good idea to simply mass mail all the stealers, but simply just highlighting the issues, and actually ask them to refer any such owners to contact SteveP directly, or go straight to VWUK. Afterall, the stealer didn't actually build the cars.
4. Email AutoExpress, car magazine and even send a few emails through to Topgear, Fifth gear.
I don't really agree, and I reckon it might be pointless. None of those are seen as any kind of "specialist source" for Dubs - and specifically referring to FifthGear, they are generally seen as an utter joke, with very, very little hard consumer-type of info. Indeed, Stiff Needles and Jason Prato would actually have you believe that a true test of a cars ability is to see how far you can get the back end out on a race track. If you were ever caught doing that in the UK, on public road, you would get prosecuted for dangerous driving, and probably loose your driving licence. Nope, FifthGear should be seen purely as entertainment, but for them to in any way endorse their driving antics on public roads is utterly irresponsible.
For those reasons, VWUK would completely discount any exposure from the above suggestions, and with some of the more useless examples, may actually jeopardise the real issues.
IF you want to get VW's attention you have to hit back hard. Attack from all angles. No large company (Especially VW) wants bad publicity. Once you have car dealers emailing VW HQ for answers,
I agree that VWUK need a poke hard enough to take the matter more seriously. But by simply "carpet bombing" them indescrimiately from all angles will probably just wind them up, and alienate the real cause (the Germans didn't really take to that 65 years ago!
). And I agree about the bad publicity issue, but to go straight for the jugular will really just get them on their "defensive", and will be less likely to achive a satisfactory outcome - compared to a much more restrained, logical and methodical aproach.
Once you have Topgear commenting on it. Once you have VWVortex possibly putting it as a frontpage article on their webpage then you guys will get that placque.
Bad move. Very bad move. Especially the Vortex comment. Put anything remotely derrogatory on a yank site, and with their very narrow minds they will simply bad mouth VW.
That will REALLY get the backs up at VW.
The TopGear TV show
may produce results, but it would be a very high-risk strategy. TopGear seriously divide opinions - whlist some worship the show, others would see it banished into the deepest anals of hell forever. Sure, JC is a GTI "fan", but I strongly doubt you could get a serious "consumer" piece from them, with the restrained but finely targeted aproach which these issues need.
I run a branding business that deals with exactly what you will be receiving from VW and I can tell you that I will have those placques to you all in under three weeks. To each of your personal home addresses. VW is talking rubbish and fobbing you off.
I agree with the sentiment of your comment, but I don't think that the actual manufacture of the plaques is the real issue. The real problem, from what I can gather, is that VWUK really just can't be ar$ed to actually make them in the first place. Logistics wise, once the design
was signed off, and the tooling made, then from sheet metal to door mat will take 5 working days.
If you need help I can email a few people who I know that might be able to get VW moving.
Who do you have in mind?
