For a remarkably long time, VW and Karmann did great business manufacturing and selling sporty coupés based on VW’s contemporary bread-and-butter platform. It started with the Beetle-based Karmann-Ghia, then came the Golf-based Scirocco. But the Corrado spelled the end of this great multi-decade run of two-door VWs. What happened?
The Corrado is quite the conundrum. It was praised when it first came out in 1988, praised even more when VW switched to the VR6 engine in 1991 and seemed to be about as good a FWD sports coupé as anything ever made at the time. Yet sales were sluggish at first and only went down from there. Ever since, a lot has been written about why it failed to thrive. Let’s look at a few theories.
One theory is that it really should have been called Scirocco III. The Corrado name wasn’t as cool and windy, making the car sound like an old Italian guy. Or is that the Internet’s collective memory failing to recall that The Sopranos was on about a decade after the VW came out?
Some also call into question the Corrado’s styling. It’s a matter of taste, of course, but though it might not have been exactly groundbreaking for the late ‘80s, it’s not offensively outdated or ugly. It’s pretty distinctive and muscly, with that swooping beltline and short rear overhang. I’m personally not much of a fan of the front end, but it’s very ‘80s VW.
This is a pre-facelift G60, with the supercharged 1.8 litre 4-cyl. developing 160hp. There are a lot of complaints about this particular variant’s reliability – especially that of the supercharger, so we may be onto something here. However, when the VR6 gradually replaced the G60 in 1991-92, sales did the opposite of recovering. So perhaps that’s not the whole story.
The Corrado was not named Scirocco because it was supposed to be a step above it, essentially a bigger and more expensive evolution of it. Indeed, the Scirocco II was produced alongside the Corrado for five years. And it certainly was a lot more expensive, which was a challenge to sell during troubled economic times, both at home (German reunification) and in many foreign markets. But just look at this interior. Does it scream “premium sports coupé” to you, or “Golf with extra switches”?
It’s a pity, because Karmann used to have a knack for making these VW coupés look so special, both inside and out. It’s as if the more VW added actual content and engine capacity, the less attention could be paid to presentation. But the price was still substantial. Corrado production dipped below the 10k unit mark in 1993, just when the Scirocco had left the range. It was curtains for the VW Karmann coupés from that point on. With only about 97,500 Corrados made, the experience was deemed disappointing by Volkswagen, though far from a total dud.
There again, controversies remain. Many sources claim 50,000 were sold in the US, but I’m not sure if that is the case, because VW were banking on 10k per year and allegedly never reached that goal. Other sources claim around 22k units for North America and 73k in Europe, of which 44,000 never left Germany. For some reason – probably because I found those with more granular breakdowns per country and MY – I’m more inclined towards the second set of data.
Japanese sales were minuscule, in the hundreds, making this a very rare sight in these parts – unlike the Golf II it shares a lot of its bones with. So why did the Corrado miss the mark? Too expensive for its VW badge? Too fragile in its G60 form? Too angular for the bio design era? When there are that many potential explanations, it’s already a sign in itself…
Related post:
Curbside Classic: 1993 Volkswagen Corrado VR6 – The Enigmatic Also-Ran, by The Professor
I had completely forgotten these. The market for this kind of car was supersaturated.
Ford Mustang
Ford Probe
Toyota Celica
Toyota Supra
Toyota MR2
Honda Prelude
Mercedes Benz SL
Mazda Miata
Mazda RX7
Acura NSX
Buick Reatta
Cadillac Allante
Chevy Camaro
Dodge Daytona
Pontiac TransAm
Nissan 240 SX
Diamond-Star Eclipse
Subaru XT6
BMW 325i
Isuzu Impulse
So you can understand why the Corrado, which looks like it did, was overlooked in this market. Can’t you?
While I find it very attractive (as I did when it was new), it was simply too expensive at the time. It launched into the heyday of very well-developed Japanese coupes such as the Prelude, Integra, Celica, 240SX (all of which really the GTI was already competing against), as well as the US stuff such as Mustangs and Camaros with V8’s (which I realize were perhaps not seriously cross-shopped everywhere if today’s tribes are considered, but in some parts (such as SoCal) certainly was not impossible. The looks though were not universally praised either, popup headlights were still a sign of sport coupe-dom back then and it does have a hint of the bulldog about it…
There was also an issue with some of the interior finishings simply mismatched from one surface or plane to another, all stuff that the competition had mostly ironed out, certainly at the price level. A four-cylinder supercharger was a pretty novel concept at the time, and not really something people wrapped their heads around. By the time the VR6 came around any initial enthusiasm was already gone and I believe had pushed the price even higher, at which point people were also considering BMWs etc
I seriously doubt (as you do) that anywhere near 50k were sold in the U.S., I see very few (one or two a year maybe?) in the junkyards and know of one VR6 that lives in Laramie and that’s about it, they were never remotely plentiful even when new.
Offer me any car from VW’s 1991 lineup today though and this might be at the top of the list, but more likely a 16v GTI would get the nod after some contemplation.
P.S. It’s interesting they used the Euro license plate bracket/nacelle in the back for Japan, the US one had a deeper recessed area with black blocking between it and the tail lights. While Japanese and US plates are similarly sized, the Japanese one is still slightly larger I believe, perhaps the US version was just a hair too small.
Great find in the as usual showroom condition!
That matches my memories. It was expensive, the G60 motor was finicky and underpowered, and its styling was out of step with the market. Contemporary sport coupes were long, low and wide and the Corrado was short, narrow and tall (for a coupe) Side by side with a Prelude or 240SX it looked dull and frumpy. If it had come out a few years earlier and had the VR6 from the beginning it might have done a lot better.
The main competition was in house – the Audi TT, same under the skin, better looking inside and out.
TT was launched a whole decade later and was based on the Golf MkIV platform, the Corrado was already off the market by that time and was on the Golf MkII platform. They never overlapped as new cars.
Concurrent to the market with the Corrado (in the U.S.), Audi was fielding the 90-based Audi Coupe Quattro, it however was priced about $10,000 higher than the Corrado and only saw about 1900 sales over two model years (1990/1991).
Its only a VW not something desirable, there were plenty of choices from better brands when this landed.
I cannot remember having seen many of those, when new, at the time, in Europe, or they just didn’t stand out ?.
BTW, in the Karmann six-pack, what is the golden one, left hand side, in the middle? Is it rear engined, a 912 competitor ?
That’s the Karmann-Ghia TC, made for the Brazilian market from 1970 to 1976. Giugiaro design, actual rear seats, 1500cc engine – very cool vw variant.
That’s a Karmann Ghia TC (Touring Coupe) designed by Giugiaro for VW of Brazil and only sold there — which makes it unclear what exactly is “Karmann” about it, as it seems unlikely Karmann built them (or even just the bodies) in Germany for export to Brazil exclusively, more likely built entirely in Brazil. Maybe Karmann just developed the prototype, as that remains in their factory museum collection.
Karmann-Ghias (Type 14s, mostly coupés) were produced in Brazil at a dedicated factory in Sao Paolo from 1962 to 1971. The TC, a.k.a Type 145, was made there too, though it was initially designed and prototype-tested by Karmann and VW in Germany. The factory was known as Karmann-Ghia do Brasil and carried on manufacturing auto parts until it was closed in 2020.
I test-drove a leftover 90 G60 in 91. It was yellow, and I thought it looked terrific. Its performance was good for the time in my then-limited experience but not “zOMG I must own this car” good. If it had been the 5 speed I might have splurged. But not for an automatic.
My brother in Vancouver had a second-hand Corrado VR6 for a year or two. It was nice enough to drive, but as he said, “he never bonded with it”.
I drove it a couple of times but found it a bit disappointing compared to my 2000 Golf VR6 which had 4WD and a larger version of the same engine.
I’ve been waiting for a(nother) great take on the Corrado here at CC, so I was really happy to see this. So ironic that sales dropped after the engine was sorted out, but it sort of makes sense given the number of years it had been on the market by then. Still, with the concurrent disappearance of the Scirroco, one would think that sales might have at least stayed static.
I remember being unmoved by the styling when these were new. Like a chunky, stubby gen-3 Jetta in hatchback form (that’s somehow not a Golf), with the exact same front styling. As a young adult, I would have wanted something that actually looked sporty. At my current age, it’s tasteful, restrained styling speaks much more to me than other more flashy alternatives from that era.
Karmann had nothing to do with the design of these; like the gen2 Scirocco, it was done inhouse by a team led by Herbert Shafer.
I think the look would have been just fine as a gen3 Scirocco, priced accordingly. But bringing this out at its price and features, considering the Scirocco was still on the market too, was just plain stupid.
I was just going to say the same thing. Karmann had nothing to do with the design.
Never claimed they did. Karmann were a coachbuilder / body-maker, and it was their quality build (as well as the use of quality third party items like switchgear, door handles, ect.) that made K-Gs remarkable and justified the price. As well as the design, but that was Ghia’s, as the name sort of hinted at. The Scirocco 1 was designed by Giugiaro.
Corrado’s tail lights are almost the same of the Brazilian VW Santana 1991.
It looks like a Santana hatch.
I bought a new1990 G60 Corrado. It was a beautiful car, well built and solid but it was expensive and there was a lot of competition…Prelude, Celica, Probe. But I loved VW’s. They just felt different, more sophisticated. But VW had been down this road before. My first new car was a 1980 Scirocco and that to was more expensive than the competition, but every magazine still rated the Scirocco at the top of their list. By the time the Scirocco Mk2 came out, Honda introduced its 2nd gen Prelude the following year. It was better than the Scirocco
There’s a purple one near us – mind’s gone blank but I think it’s a VR6.
Cow & BBS wheels – I always liked it better than the concurrent Scirocco, being closer to the original if a bit Snoopy-nosed.
I like the no-nonsense dash!
But yes, the pricing strategy & the old ‘Roc alongside it was utterly baffling.