VW’s Moonraker project: who plays “Jaws”?

// August 12th, 2005 //

VW’s muckety-mucks have dispatched a team to dig into American culture and driving habits, in the process identifying vehicle attributes and business strategies that may help the German automaker expand its market share in the country.

The team, codenamed Moonraker, is made of 22 Germans and one American travelling across the country to speak to customers, dealers, auto industry analysts and other high-performing high value consumer companies (like Nike).

As usual, the gearheads at MIT knew about their work in April – well ahead of the auto crowd.

Wait a minute! If I remember my James Bond movies correctly, Moonraker was about a crazy and megalomaniacal German (or Austrian) billionaire who hijacked a high tech multi-purpose vehicle program to implement his evil scheme to eliminate humankind – well, everyone except his selected group of acolytes.

Hits a little close to home, doesn’t it?

    “Moonraker’s main goal, [Len Hunt, head of VW America] says, is to build a cadre of key employees in Germany who understand the U.S. market. That will complement VW brand boss Wolfgang Bernhard’s experience as COO of the Chrysler group. ..

    The trick, he adds, is to preserve VW’s European character, which customers like, while addressing U.S.-specific needs.

    Mathias Grosser, who works in VW’s individualization department, says he was amazed that “we still don’t really cater to the customer’s wishes in America – just as the Japanese didn’t really cater to our tastes 30 years ago.” (Automotive News)

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