VW idea of giving up US mass market under fire

Southfield, Michigan

THE suggestion was startling: Maybe VW should give up on selling cars to America's masses.

It was late January, at the Detroit car show, and Herbert Diess, the global chief of Volkswagen AG's namesake brand, was sounding out US dealers as the company grappled with the biggest crisis in its modern history. Perhaps, Mr Diess wondered aloud, VW should stop trying to compete with the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. in America and go back to focusing on higher-end models.

"It was near crickets in the room," said Alan Brown, chairman of VW's US dealer council.

After stunned silence came anger, Mr Brown said. He and 11 other dealers are heading to company headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, this week to tell executives they fervently oppose throwing in the towel on the ma…