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VW shifting the Golf production to Germany.

videoguy009

Ready to race!
I think I will always listen to people in the know about the products they repair whether it be merc or a VW.They guy who did my PDI on my Rabbit who I also know summed it up in very simple terms.They are good cars but You gotta pay to play and he owns 3 Audis.Maybe I'm lucky to live in a small city where a lot of people know each other and you can get some good factual knowledge.I really have to laugh when you listen to some of the reviews on cars and I don't go by them whatsoever.Who are they working for?They complain that vw or whoever put a simple button in the wrong place.They might exert their pinky pushing it. Live to drive and drive to live.By the way they do sell aluminum heads but rip offs shipping to Canada.
 
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Bassman

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Greenville, SC
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
ECS Tuning, I think sells Aluminum housings.

Not sure if for an MK7. Never looked into it.



Yes that’s correct. But it’s aftermarket not OEM from factory.
I like when aftermarket sales come out with improved parts which the manufacturers could not get done down the road in the production of a vehicle cycle.

Haven’t seen any aluminum water pump housing for the MK7 yet.
 

videoguy009

Ready to race!
Yes,it's true some aftermarket parts are better than oem especially if the supplier has put a lot of thought behind the design.One reason for the cheaper parts on a new cars whether it be tires,batteries,water pumps etc. is to keep the price of the vehicle down as you probably know.Its funny when I bought my rabbit that they had a R in the showroom with Continental tires and I got Bridgestone Potenza.That's what 10k or more can buy you.
 

Jacobmk7

Go Kart Newbie
Location
NC
Car(s)
2015 GTI S 4dr DSG
Where’s it’s made, shouldn’t make a difference. The problem is when people think made it Mexico they think (and I’m not trying to be rude here) made in some shack in the middle of the desert by guys that are probably homeless and drunk. That’s just not the case though, thankfully. The factory is Mexico is just as high tech and state of the art as anything in Germany or America, and the cars still have to live up to the same QC as anywhere else.
 

Faceman

Autocross Newbie
Location
Long Island
Car(s)
'17 GSW 4Mo
Same sunroofs from the same vendor, Webasto, installed by VW robotics in numerous countries but only the Puebla ones leak?
I'm under the impression that the roof welds are to blame, not the pano unit itself.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
TL; DR.

VW has several under-utilized factories in Germany, while the two Skoda factories in the Czech Republic are operating at capacity. VW is trying to correct this imbalance by bringing more manufacturing back into Germany. Skoda will start making some of its cars in Germany as well, even though Skoda's factories are more modern than those in Germany and Puebla and despite the fact that Skodas are consistently rated at the top of quality surveys in EU.

So it appears that "quality issues" at the Puebla plant may be a small part, if at all, of the reason for the move back to German production, but the bigger picture is that there are under-utilized factories in Germany and VW is facing pressure from the labor unions to fully utilize them.
 

shortyb

Autocross Newbie
Location
Upstate SC
Car(s)
Felon Taxi,Dad Wagon
Cars are made robotically for the most part, so most of the "quality because it's made in Germany" argument goes out the window. What does get human hands on is going to be the same because they are using skilled local labor. All are fallible, subject to long hours, could be disgruntled etc., no where they are from. Local vendors can source parts that are exceptional or shit for the same reasons, again, no matter country of origin. What does drive the location of build is simple economics. Have cheap, but suitable labor? Going to build cars there. Have a powerful labor union with political clout? Going to build the cars there.

To me it doesn't matter a bit where the car is built. I've owned cars from both countries and haven't had any issues from either. What I think drives the perception of quality based on location of assembly lies more with how the country (and it's people) are viewed. There is still a deep seeded view that the Mexican folks are a bunch of poor, lazy, boozers that can't open a paper bag without fucking it up while the Germans are highly skilled, superior intellect folks that can precisely place a part within a .0001mm of where it goes. Ain't like that anymore.
 

videoguy009

Ready to race!
Nicely put Shorty.You may have hear that the GM plant in Oshawa Canada is closing and moving it to Mexico.The VW plant in Mexico pays it's workers 20.00 per hour which is a very good income in Mexico and employs 15k people.Your probably living like a king on that salary.Having said that,you would have to think they would work very diligently to maintain that type of employment status.
 

ElectricEye

Autocross Newbie
Location
Central NJ
A couple of thoughts: If you were on the MK6 forum as I was for my previous MK6 for four years - you would have seen many quality control problems with the MK6.
Many more than I have seen on this forum for the MK7. (Also 4 years now.)
Things like misaligned doors which are one of the few things that actually are part of the human element of the assembly process and inspection process.

Secondly: When it comes to workers doing detail work...
Well, Mexican's seem to be really good at skilled and detail work.
As workers in the contracting trade for instance - sheet rocking, taping, painting, tile work and on and on...
I'd certainly trust Mexican workers to put a car together according to specs at least as much as I'd trust workers from any other country.
 

ManInTheClouds

Ready to race!
Location
OK
Having visited the BMW factory in Munich, the volume is so high that they've automated as much as possible to cut process times.


Contrast this with the Rosslyn, ZA plant, which has more human intervention in processes, like mating the drive train, running gear, and chassis, with the fact that it has a better quality record than the BMW factory in Dingolfing, GER shows that bias for country of manufacture doesn't matter.


Funny enough, the new G20 3-series will now be built in Mexico as well.
You can imagine the forum posts about this.
 

GTI-Jay

Ready to race!
Location
USA
Cars are made robotically for the most part, so most of the "quality because it's made in Germany" argument goes out the window. What does get human hands on is going to be the same because they are using skilled local labor. All are fallible, subject to long hours, could be disgruntled etc., no where they are from. Local vendors can source parts that are exceptional or shit for the same reasons, again, no matter country of origin. What does drive the location of build is simple economics. Have cheap, but suitable labor? Going to build cars there. Have a powerful labor union with political clout? Going to build the cars there.

To me it doesn't matter a bit where the car is built. I've owned cars from both countries and haven't had any issues from either. What I think drives the perception of quality based on location of assembly lies more with how the country (and it's people) are viewed. There is still a deep seeded view that the Mexican folks are a bunch of poor, lazy, boozers that can't open a paper bag without fucking it up while the Germans are highly skilled, superior intellect folks that can precisely place a part within a .0001mm of where it goes. Ain't like that anymore.

Well the Mexican final crew, who wear the white gloves sliding them all over looking all over the car for any imperfections, missed some pretty big things on a couple of MX made VW's of mine. Stuff that should never of been given the green light. There is some truth to standard of living contributing towards your workmanship. You're going to be more of a perfectionist if your name is Wolfgang, drive a new BMW/Audi car to work, live in decent accommodation. Fiercely proud that the manufacturer of the automobile you're signing off on, comes from your home nation. However, you're more likely to let things slide, if you're coming into work on a donkey and live in a decrepit falling apart house on the east side of Puebla, and sliding your hands all over (in Pedro's eyes) some other rich bastards new toy.

Disclaimer: Don't be offended if you're a Mexican. I'm obviously grossly exaggerating for comical purpose. Donkeys are fine methods of transportation ! Besides Germany is now full of Turks and Syrians. So chances are you're better off having Pedro's hands all over it.
 

KevinC

Autocross Champion
Location
The land of Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday
Car(s)
'19 Golf R, '21 M2c
.The VW plant in Mexico pays it's workers 20.00 per hour which is a very good income in Mexico



A local union represents all 15,000 workers, and wages are negotiated annually. The average annual salary among unionized workers is the equivalent of about $20,000, which, according to the United Nations, is far above the Mexican national average of about $7500.

Above is from 2014 from an R&T article. That's less than $10/hr. Perhaps it's risen a bit since then, but I seriously doubt its doubled.
 

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Ready to race!
Location
Rhode Island
While I doubt Puebla had all that much worse assembly than Wolfsburg, I won't deny that a small (tiny) factor in trading in my GTI for an R was that it was made in Germany. Is a Californian Cabernet just as good as a French one? Of course, but I still like buying the French one on occasion simply for the story. Buying decisions are mostly irrational, even for those of us who do obsessive research. Having a German car made in not-Germany can take the wind out of someone's desire to buy something. Since "German-made" is a selling point in the US, and VW's desire to push the Golf line upmarket, this isn't surprising at all.

That being said, from what I've seen anecdotally, Puebla cars did have a decent amount of welding issues not seen in other sites. Take it with a grain of salt.

Edit: Wow, typos.
 

KevinC

Autocross Champion
Location
The land of Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday
Car(s)
'19 Golf R, '21 M2c
We've owned a '15 Golf TDI as well as my R. The TDI build quality & fit/finish were absolutely equal to the R in every way. In fact the paint job was probably even slightly better, though both were/are great. The "bad old days" of garbage coming out of Puebla are long gone, since somewhere around the Mk3 generation or thereabouts.
 
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