Some people may forget but VW was in trouble in the US well before Dieselgate hit the fan. Causes included a narrow model range and SUVs too expensive for the marketplace, but arguably the biggest reason VW was less than halfway towards its stated 800,000 units per year target was that consumers were losing interest in the boring designs of the mainstream Jetta and Passat sedans. VW had to do something, and the MY 2014 Jetta is what it came up with…
…and boy, did they screw up. Sure, you could have done worse than try to copy the handsome Audi A4’s rear, but in so doing they copied a 7-year-old design that itself was the evolution of that cars’ previous generation. German carmakers are often accused of thinking they know best and not listening to customers, and based on the Jetta – who can blame them?
