Wacey quoted yours truly as saying that VW was trying to make a comeback with its current Yaris type ad. I did a Google and came up with this chart for Year 2005 sales in the US. Click to read the results. VW is 19th of 20, ahead of Saturn.
I agree with Wacey that all german cars have the great driver feel to them, I owned several Audis back in the late 70s and early 80s before the prices went sky high. The irony here is that it was VW that was finally successful, after American Motors, Kaiser, Isetta, were not, in selling Americans on the idea of small thrifty autos. They even picked up on the great mini transverse front drive layout in the original rabbit. But today they are but a shadow of their former selves. I see the current ad campaign as a retro back to where they started. The GTI was one of the great modern pocket rockets. And of course the VW micro bus was the original mini van, gee, another great idea they failed to capitalize on. But the VW bus was the vehicle of the hippie generation, it was Chrysler that convinced those hippie parents to buy Chrysler instead. The lack of air conditioning and a motor at least half the size needed kept the VW bus from going anywhere, well, so to speak.
That is the story I am trying to convey to you. VW got it right
with the bug, owners adored them
With the VW bus, the original minivan before Iococa ever thought about it (and of course vehicle of choice for Arlo Guthrie in Alice’s Restaurant…..)
rear air cooled configuration that led to the Porsche, but failed to offer a really sporty lower cost alternative to Porsche, the Karman Ghia was a no go sorta showboat, never even had a tach
Rabbit, great idea but terrible quality control with the intro model
Missed the entire sports car thing Datsun 240 260 280 Z, Mazda RX 7, Mazda Miata,
Dropped the ball on sports sedan-BMW 1600 now 3 series
All brushes with greatness and now number 19, gee it is tough to stay a leader
Professor Elam 
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