With waiting times blowing out across the industry, Volkswagen plans to keep its customers more up-to-date with the status of their orders.
“Launching this month is our new customer onboarding experience, whereby customers will receive more meaningful updates and where their car is from factory all the way to delivery, expanding the number of communications from five to 11,” said Michelle Rowney, head of product for Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles in Australia.
Customers will be able to receive updates via email and SMS for the first time, and with the mobile interface they’ll be able to view exactly where their car is and when the estimated shipping arrival will be.
“This is the first iteration of a multi-stage owners portal, which will go on to include various other owners’ tools in the future,” Ms Rowney added.
The company has confirmed it will continue to experience supply issues with the Golf hatchback and Tiguan in 2023, with sales of the former essentially being paused in the first quarter due to inadequate supply of a chip that powers the reversing camera. Wagon models are unaffected.
Despite shortages of these two key models, however, it still expects sales to rebound by around 20 per cent, buoyed by strong supply of the Golf Wagon, T-Cross, T-Roc, Tiguan Allspace, Passat, Arteon and Touareg and the upcoming introduction of the ID.4 and ID.5 electric crossovers.
The company introduced a new page on its Australian website last August that gives customers information on which of its vehicles are currently experiencing stock issues. It says it updates this information weekly.
Volkswagen also has a stock checker tool, allowing customers to view its nationwide inventory.
It’s not the only company to introduce stock level updates on its website, with Ford being another. Brands like BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover also allow customers to check nationwide dealer stock.
