Ford, VW ad dollars promote new big vehicles

NEW YORK -- In this time of high gas prices and low auto sales, many carmakers have cut ad spending and focused on fuel-efficient small vehicles. But that hasn't stopped Volkswagen and Ford from putting the pedal to the metal this fall on rollouts of big new family haulers.

"We're in a tough year no matter what size vehicle you are selling," says Stephanie Brinley, analyst at industry tracker AutoPacific Group in Southfield, Mich. However, "If they don't advertise, they won't sell (them). It would be a whole lot worse for them to draw back from advertising their new models and hope that the right people will find them by word-of-mouth."

Besides, she adds, there's still a market for these. "There are still families that need to seat seven and need the cargo capacity."

Volkswagen will court families for its minivan with a quirky campaign built around actor and mom Brooke Shields. Ford's campaign for the Flex crossover emphasizes style and goes after buyers who would not consider a minivan — particularly men and buyers moving down from big truck-based, gas-hungry SUVs.

The Routan, which began arriving at dealers last week, starts at $24,700 and seats seven. Volkswagen hopes for it to be a key part of its plan to more than triple its U.S. sales to 800,000 vehicles a year by 2018.

"The minivan is not the SUV or truck segment," says Tim Ellis, VW's vice president for marketing. "There are a lot of families. We expect to see a robust level of minivans being sold over the next couple of years and expect this to have the second-biggest volume behind Jetta."

One way VW reaches out to families: Buyers of Routans this month get $1,500 in a 529 college savings account at Upromise.

Ellis says that VW projects Routan will gain 5% of annual U.S. minivan sales of about 750,000. But sales of minivans, which have an unhip image, are down from the 1990s, when more than a million a year was routine.