The first Volkswagen arrived in NYC about the same time Ford started designing a mid-price model. Ten years later Ford announced the Edsel, and Volkswagen had run away with the small car market. The Edsel was good, but people expected better and cheaper, and that is what VW delivered.
People sent unmistakable messages to Detroit: they wanted better design rather than flashier styling, they wanted electric windshield wipers and to h*ll with vacuum wipers, they wanted one key to open the door and start the engine and a different key to open the trunk, they wanted keys that were the same upside down or right side up. Detroit stubbornly ignored those demands, and imports took the markets away from them.
Harley Davidson had the same problem and got the same result.
Oh, I'd love to talk to your brother-in-law and to have gone back in the past and have had a chance to ride in his! ;) Makes sense about the weight and gas.