Volkswagen Hopes $2,000 Incentive Will Help Retention Efforts

Amid the Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Crisis, the automaker trying to help calm the storm of confused and upset VW owners. VW is reaching into their pockets and offering current Volkswagen owners a $2,000 loyalty incentive.

Volkswagen is hoping to extend an inventive to existing Volkswagen owners in order to keep them from jumping ship to another brand. Volkswagen has announced that VW owners may receive $2,000 toward the purchase or lease of a new gas or hybrid Volkswagen vehicle. The $2000 incentive can be combined with other automaker incentives in order to stack up a more desirable deal. The offer is good at participating Volkswagen dealerships through the month of October and ends November 2, according to Edmunds.com. Speaking to Edmunds.com, Jeannine Ginivan, a representative for Volkswagen said concerning the new program, “The offer can be combined with other offers, with the exception of dealer/employee programs.”

This $2000 incentive program is in addition to the money that VW is already paying out to dealers for their stop-sale diesel vehicles and will come in addition to the immense legal bills associated with the growing class action lawsuits against the automaker. Another cost for Volkswagen is the dropping value for VW TDI vehicles.

Kelly Blue Book as also reported that the value of Volkswagen diesel vehicles showed a sharp decline since the start of their crisis in mid-September. According to the Wall Street Journal, KBB lead product analyst Tim Fleming said, “Early indications from auctions are that dealers are more hesitant to buy the VW diesel units. Used car values typically decline at this time of the year, but the large price drop on the VW diesels certainly stands out.”

Do you think that $2000 is going to be enough? Will the $2,000 VW incentive program help VW preserve customers, or will Volkswagen suffer inevitable attrition from its current group of owners? What is it going to take for Volkswagen to recover from this crisis?