Volkswagen, the German auto maker, recently made an announcement regarding recalling of a huge number of cars, something that shocked many around the world. This is certainly one of the major vehicle recalls that one has witnessed in recent times. Notably, the recall will see one third of the volume from China itself while over 43000 units are being recalled in Australia, reports have claimed. This recall drive is to fix a variety of issues like electronic and drive-system flaws. Notably, it is the Tiguan Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) that has defects that need correction. Interestingly, the Volkswagen group was trying to overtake auto giants like Toyota and General Motors so as to lead the global market as the biggest car company.
Michael Franke, a spokesman at the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company, reported said, “Volkswagen is recommending that mineral oil be used in dual-clutch gearboxes on 1.6 million cars and vans in place of synthetic oil.” Franke, further added, “Another 800,000 Tiguan compact sport-utility-vehicles may have lighting defects and 239,000 Amarok pick-ups should be fixed for fuel leaks, the manufacturer said yesterday.”
Incidentally, such recalls have a dampening effect on the brand value as while going for next purchases, buyers would be more susceptible and such a notion just lingers on for quite sometime. This in turn may effect sales statistics with buyers simply deciding to prefer other brands for purchasing high-end premium cars. However, on the other hand, such an initiative also means that the auto company is pretty proactive in these terms. Also, before customers reporting such issues in big numbers, the auto company has decided to take the early call to save on the resultant inconvenience and individual notification time. Thus, from this perspective, such a recall ensures the continuance of the trust factor that auto company would never let its customers suffer with prompt actions and mass notifications. Certainly, there two cause-effects that have been highlighted here refer to the two facets of a coin and only time will tell which side would yield to its counter part.
Many analysts have suggested that issues seem to be minor and will not take considerable time for being fixed. Customers just have to take their vehicles to the nearest service centre and get their vehicles checked for minor flaws and rectifications. Ever ready and highly skilled task force that is employed by Volkswagen will ensure that customers leave with a broad smile on their face. Analysts also suggested that the recall is seemingly a far cry as in past, the auto sector has witnessed even bigger volume recalls. Who can forget about 19 million vehicles being recalled by Japan's Toyota from late 2009 to early 2011 to do away acceleration problems, analysts add. But, notably, any inconvenience to customers and question marks on brands' reliability are certainly bad news for any auto company, not just Volkswagen. Stefan Bratzel, Head of the Centre of Automotive Management, a private think-tank near Cologne, reported stated, “Car makers riding on strong growth like VW must be terribly careful that they don’t pay dearly for that growth by conceding losses on quality.”
The major impact of this recall can be seen in China. Commenting on the same, an official from Volkswagen Group China, reportedly said, “We sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience caused. We will do our utmost to serve our customers efficiently and in the shortest time possible.” Notably, Volkswagen has seen a brisk growth in China and thus, the auto company plans to double its output to over 4 million cars per annum by the year 2018.
