• by Karl Greenberg , May 9, 2008

Volkswagen is launching its first-ever minivan this August. Only don't call it a microbus. While the company has used imagery of the iconic Beetle--one that talks, no less--to promote its lineup, it won't tout the Routan with a talking microbus.

The company this week launched an early-order program with college-funding incentive company Upromise that offers $1,500 to customers who purchase or lease the seven-passenger Routan.

The effort, based at upromise.com/vw, runs through August, the month in which the Herndon, Va.-based VW begins rolling the minivan into dealerships.

Brian Thomas, general marketing manager of Volkswagen, says the pre-launch effort is tactical, with outreach targeted to young families with two or more children, with at least one under the age of six. "These are people who are ideal minivan customers," he says. The Routan will have a starting price of around $24,700.

Thomas says some current or former VW owners will get the Upromise message, but that among the current Volkswagen owners "there are probably not a lot of minivan intenders." He says the company will leverage direct mail, email and online promotional content at both Upromise and VW.com to promote the Upromise $1,500 offer. The effort will also include ads aimed at people comparing minivans on shopping and research sites like Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com), and Edmunds.com.

He concedes that the new vehicle will have to elbow its way into a corner of the market that hasn't seen its customer base grow.

The segment, which includes Honda Odyssey, Chrysler Town and Country, and Toyota Sienna, hasn't shrunk either. It has stayed at about a million vehicles per year. "The market is stagnant, but it is also massive, and it is a growth segment for VW," says Thomas.

He also says that the campaign will continue the rakish personality that has been central to VW advertising for years. "One thing we learned in talking to consumers is that [we have that] notion of fun that others can't inject into the category; it's in the DNA of the Beetle. And in a sense, this is the Beetle of minivans."

As an example of the kind of tone that ads for the Routan will have, look at the kid's road game, "punch buggy," in which one kid gets to punch another kid in the arm if a VW Bug comes down the street in a color the punch-giver predicted.

Volkswagen has bragging rights for launching one of the first multi-people movers with its 70s-era microbus, a modern version of which the company had considered introducing two years ago. Thomas says VW will not use imagery of that Sixties van--à la the talking Beetle--to put some spin on Routan, because people associate the microbus with psychedelics, magic buses, and the sexual revolution.

"We have to be careful with that; emotionally," says Thomas. "It's a very different vehicle [from Routan]. As one respondent said, the new minivan is a vehicle they would raise their children in; the microbus is one they would make their children in."