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Path: utzoo!watmath!watdcsu!haapanen
From: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS])
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: That's Japan with a capital J
Message-ID: <950@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Feb-85 18:19:21 EST
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.950
Posted: Tue Feb 12 18:19:21 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 13-Feb-85 02:00:27 EST
References: <315@terak.UUCP> <25300007@siemens.UUCP> <525@tpvax.fluke.UUCP>
Reply-To: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS])
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 38

Unbelievable!  I'm off the net for ten days, and this is the fourth
article ...

In article <525@tpvax.fluke.UUCP> inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson) writes:

>Oh really? The vw people are well-known for their propensity to put absolute
>junk on the road.

Oh.  How come I haven't heard about it?

>So too with cars. The germans will never build anything to compared to what
>Toyota has been doing all along. vws are known for their schlocky design and
>their use of cheap materials that fall apart if you look at them wrong. The
>germans have no concept of the term 'appropriate technology'. If plastic
>will work til the car is a year or so old, then plastic it is. Not just any
>plastic, mind you, but plastic specifically chosen to rot with continued
>exposure to air. When the Japanese use plastics, they choose nylons and
>other tough materials that will stand up to the task.

Ahem.  I have friends with VWs from model years 1968, 1971, 1972,
1974, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1984.  None of them have suffered the 'cracked
dash syndrome' so common in US cars, not to mention the durability of
the seats or miscellaneous plastic parts.  Maybe I've been looking in
the wrong places.  Or I haven't stared hard enough.  What gives?

>    A guy finds a bottle on a beach, and when he's cleaning it up,
>    a genie comes out of it. The genie tells him that for a reward,
>    he would grant one wish. The man thinks for a while, and says,
>    "I'd like a car dealership in a major city." POOF! He finds 
>    himself with a vw dealership in downtown Tokyo.

Not *that* funny.  VW is in fact the best-selling import in Japan.
Also, VW has a joint venture with Nissan in Japan, building Santanas
(aka Quantums) for the Japanese market.


				\tom haapanen
				watmath!watdcsu!haapanen