Peter Palmer: The Staying Power of VW in the United States (Infographic)

Volkswagen certinately has a loyal following in the United States. I have friends who love and adore the German manufacturer, citing quality and fuel efficiency as their top reasons of ownership. Volkswagen arrived in the U.S. in 1949 and, in the 67 years since, have presented 20 different vehicles to American consumers. Many of them are easily recognizable, like the Golf, Jetta, Beetle, and Passat.

These models have been available in the U.S. for over two decades now.

A new graphic from VWPartsVortex.com details the staying power of Volkswagen in the U.S., highlighting some of their best known and longest lasting offerings.

“We analyzed the longevity of every VW model name since 1949, and we found that most of VW’s brand names have a long lifespan,” says Rocco Demas, Director of VWPartsVortex.com. “Almost all of the currently available VW model names have a history going back more than 20 years.”

A 2015 study by Interbrand ranked Volkswagen 35th among all global brands, placing them higher than Ford, Nissan, and Hyundai, among others. Demas argues the more unfortunate news surrounding the automaker recently does little to harm their longstanding image.

“While it’s true that Volkswagen has been in the news a lot, none of this press can take away from decades of brand name exposure,” he said. “Long-lasting brands like Jetta, Beetle, and Golf have a lot of equity with consumers.”

The graphic shows nearly all of Volkswagen’s top models have a lineage dating back to the 1970s, something rare in the automotive marketplace.

“Volkswagen has been a successful U.S. automaker for a long time, Demas said. “VW’s top-selling models have been available for a generation or longer.”

Demas also believes Volkswagen will maintain its American presence, despite the recent bad press.

“If our data shows anything, it’s that VW is a great brand which should last a long, long time,” he said.

What do you think of VW?

*Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and resides in Detroit, Michigan.