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On 19 Jun 2001, at 7:41, Ben Doughney wrote: > on 19/6/2001 1:34 AM, Jim Adney at jadney@vwtype3.org wrote: > > > Increasingly restrictive emissions regulations, particularly for NOx > > emissions, which the air-cooled cars could not meet. VW just saw > > the handwriting on the wall and decided to jump into water cooled > > engines. > > > > The Golf/Rabbit and the much less successful Passat/Dasher were > > introduced in '74. > Ah, a real pity. I wonder what would have happened if there was no oil > crisis? Just my opinion, but I really don't think the oil crisis had anything to do with it. The crisis hit in 74, while VW had to have made their production decisions several years earlier. If anything, I would have expected the oil crisis to have helped VW sales by pushing people toward more economical cars, but of course the Golf/Rabbit also filled that nitch. That was a time of pretty stiff generational upheaval in the US with the end of the Viet Nam war and Nixon's resignation. I've often wondered how much of VWs suffering at that time might have had something to do with their unofficial association with the anti-war and hippie counter culture. I realize it may be hard to fathom now, but I suspect that there were a LOT of fathers out there circa 1970 who weren't about to have anything to do with a product associated with the younger generation. - Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe? mailto:type3-request@vwtype3.org, Subject: unsubscribe