Volkswagen is accused of disregarding Chinese consumer rights DSG should be recalled

In February, Volkswagen launched a new golf line that no longer carries a DSG gearbox. As one of the public's most proud technologies, the power combination of DSG and TSI has helped Volkswagen achieve sales success in the past few years. However, because of the high complaint rate of this gearbox, especially in China, it has caused consumer suspicions about the design defects of DSG products.

However, as a company that has always obtained a good image of corporate social responsibility, Volkswagen has not clearly demonstrated its determination to solve these quality problems, but only responded that the problem only affects comfort and does not pose a threat to vehicle safety, and takes some temporary measures. Sexual remedies, such as extending warranty and upgrading software. For the DSG issue, Volkswagen differentiates itself in different countries and adopts a veiled and non-recallive attitude in the Chinese market. The industry generally believes that it ignores the rights and interests of Chinese consumers and will ultimately pay for it.

As 3•15 approaches, more and more discussions have once again pushed the Volkswagen to the cusp of public opinion. How exactly do people in the auto industry see this problem? Gasgoo.com launched a special industry survey on this topic (the survey time was March 5 to March 11, 2012, and the number of participants was 2937). The survey had a total of four questions. The survey results reflected the industry's problems with DSG. The perception of universality and the opinions and suggestions of Volkswagen's approach to DSG issues. The four issues will be separately elaborated below.

According to the result of Survey 1, 76% of people in the industry believe that the DSG fault complaints of Volkswagen are not “competitive” for individual consumers, but rather have certain universal quality issues. In fact, it is not difficult to learn from consulting publicly available information. DSG's high failure rate is no longer a news. As early as two years ago, consumers began to respond to public DSG transmissions in some public channels. Such problems, but also after the replacement of the problem is still repeatedly throwing bitter water. Moreover, Volkswagen has taken measures to extend the warranty on consumer complaints earlier, and it is no doubt that the DSG problem has existed from the side. At present, Volkswagen has a large number of models equipped with DSG, covering almost all mainstream models of Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen. However, in the past two years or so, there has been no case in which lawsuits were filed against Volkswagen through the courts. DSG quality incidents only stay on hot discussion at the public and media level.

However, some participants believe that the DSG failure is a case that is not representative. However, such people only account for 10% of the vote. Another 14% of people face this right and wrong question and give the answer “not understanding”.

Faced with public and media questions about the quality of DSG, why can Volkswagen still be at a loss, and what has been its obscurive attitude in the eyes of the industry? In the survey 2 surrounding this issue, most people in the industry hold similar views. 37% of people think that Volkswagen can use its cover rather than candid attitude to maximize its own interests. The reason is that the protection of the rights and interests of Chinese consumers is seriously lacking, and consumers are always in a weak position. It is not uncommon for the phenomenon of consumers to lose their rights, and the resulting ignorance of manufacturers' indifference to consumer rights. The profitability of capital makes Germans who are known for their rigorousness become “very flexible” in China and use loopholes in local laws and regulations to circumvent all possible risks and possible costs.

Participants who supported the first option attributed more to the fact that consumers' rights and interests did not protect the environment. 39% of people in the industry believed that the DSG failure turmoil was a reflection of Volkswagen’s indifference to the rights of Chinese consumers. This option has the highest vote rate. If capital has a distinction between good and evil, the participants who choose to answer this question have already classified the public company as "evil".

It may not be the Volkswagen family that ignores the interests of Chinese consumers. According to analysts of an unnamed consulting firm, many multinational auto companies have just adopted a higher quality standard system when they just entered the Chinese market, but as the familiarity with the Chinese market grows, they gradually understand To the original steel plate can not be so thick can be, the original indoor radiation can be a little higher, the original back to add a little more can also be modified, because the standard is low or missing; the original consumer complaints can easily be suppressed, because there is no independent third party Testing agency. "Some of the transnational corporations have become more indifferent to consumer rights than local corporations," the analyst lamented.

In addition, 19% of participants believe that the reason why Volkswagen has always taken a veiled attitude towards the quality of DSG is because Volkswagen is sufficiently confident in its public relations capabilities. Both the media and the government can turn down major events. Hours. Only 5% believe that the public did not respond positively to this issue because DSG quality is not a problem, and it has not been explained to the public.

As for how the public should handle the DSG storm, people in the industry have different views. From the four options we listed in Survey 3, the highest vote rate is "There are quality problems, we should fully recall in China." 83% of participants supported this practice; followed by 11%. People think that the public just need to “replace parts and replace parts for faulty vehicles”. In support of Volkswagen’s private processing, the proportion of participants who have reduced the number of major events to small events is very small, accounting for only 2% of the total number of voters. Obviously this is not an effective way to solve the DSG malfunction storm.

The reason why Volkswagen has been reluctant to recall DSG-equipped models is that, in addition to the unreliability of recall laws and regulations, and the unwillingness to bear the costs and brand damage that the recall may bring, we also understand through interviews with transmission technology experts. Due to the inherent instability of DSG technology, even if it is recalled, it is very likely that it will not be solved. It is reported that although the DSG technology has been in existence for nearly 70 years, it has only been popularized by Volkswagen since 2003 and it has not been used for more than a decade so far. It is difficult to claim that it is a mature technology. technology. Volkswagen recalled tens of thousands of DSG-equipped models in the United States in 2009, and also recalled about 2,000 imported vehicles in China. This directly explains that DSG does have problems, not just domestic DSG problems.

The recall or not being recalled is a headache for Volkswagen. If only the replacement of the gearbox can solve the fundamental problem, then such a recall may not only bring huge costs to Volkswagen, but also may destroy the brand image of its advanced technology. However, if it does not recall and has been using a method of concealment, when the laws and regulations related to China’s automobile recalls and other related laws and regulations are perfected, the public will still be unable to escape sanctions, which may discredit their business reputation and help them to recover.

Of course, the discarding of the DSG gearbox from now on by Volkswagen may be the easiest and most practical countermeasure. But how to handle the DSG models that have been sold will be a challenge to test their commercial wisdom and commitment.

Volkswagen’s obscuring and delaying of the DSG issue has also caused the public to suspect that it may have concealed other quality issues. According to the poll results of our survey, 4 Volkswagen also has the possibility of concealing the quality problems of other models, and about 70% of industry insiders hold this view. At the same time, 21% of respondents believe that it is difficult to determine whether there are other quality problems with Volkswagen, based on the public's ignorance of DSG quality issues. Instead, evidence should be based on facts and standards. In addition, 9% of people affirmed that Volkswagen basically does not have other vehicle quality problems.

How Volkswagen deal with DSG's failures is not only related to its commercial commitment to the Chinese market, but also may affect the implementation of its global strategic goal of achieving sales volume of 20 million in 2018. As a product company that directly provides consumers with property and life safety, it is only in awe and respect, and it does not harm the hearts of loyal consumers. This way Volkswagen will be able to go further.