It may make more financial sense to sell a few premium priced cars than a lot of low margin cars. The strategy you mention is more in line with that of Hyundai. If VWs lost their premium feel, they'd be competing with Honda and Toyota. I for one, would not buy a VW if they felt any less substantial. I'm already saddened by the loss of nice interiors in the Rabbit/Jetta.
My point is that today other manufacturers are putting out cars with interior materials and fit-and-finish as nice as the VW so it's hard to justify the premium on the VW.
For example, if you put side by side a current Mazda3 Sport and a Rabbit, it's hard to justify any price premium on the Rabbit.
However, few years ago, the MKIV Golf was indeed premium compared to the Mazda Protege5, but that's not the case anymore.
I think we need to wait and see the new iterations of those cars and their prices to judge.