VW is not resting idly by while the public wonders how to view the company in the future. Reeling from a few chaotic years brought on by the famous diesel scandal, the company has been very busy putting its money where its mouth is. And the future of the company is electric and autonomous.
It’s one of the hottest debates in the EV enthusiast community these days: what’s the best battery approach for automakers — vertical integration or simply buying batteries from top battery producers? Either approach could end up with lower costs and more advanced battery tech, depending on how the future rolls out*.
More or less, this story could be about Daimler, BMW, Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, or any other major automaker. In fact, while this article was in the works, a couple of Daimler execs came out and admitted a couple of the core challenges in a rather direct way. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne did the same a year and a half ago in his own dramatic style. But the complexity of the story means that it’s not a black and white issue and it also goes far beyond the statements referenced above.
Volkswagen Group isn’t fooling around any longer, in my opinion. There’s plenty of room to remain cynical, but Volkswagen Group indicated yesterday that it is putting genuine skin in the game — big time.
Before I discuss the announcements further, let’s go through a quick thought exercise.
Editor’s Note: Below is a repost from TeslaMondo that is followed by excerpts from an EV Annex post that further builds on the topic, with the topic being crazy anti-Tesla quotes from non-Tesla auto company execs.
Following the apparent culmination of the Volkswagen diesel emissions cheating scandal, the German giant has been on something of a PR blitz, seemingly trying to convince onlookers that the company has refocused and will now be embracing electric vehicles, self-driving tech, etc.
Apparently, though, there is still a lot of internal resistance to this change of course, going by recent comments made by the Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller.
Originally published on EV Obsession. Context & commentary: As you well know, Volkswagen got its shoes knocked off last year when researchers in West Virginia discovered that Volkswagen had been massively cheating diesel emissions tests. The company has repeatedly indicated that it would shift its focus to electric vehicles in … [continued]
2015 was a challenging year for Volkswagen, to put it mildly. The company was found to have been intentionally bypassing emissions controls on most of its diesel vehicles, violating the trust of customers, shareholders, and employees around the world. Given this challenge, all Volkswagen press conferences now seem to start with several … [continued]
Originally published on EV Obsession: As I’ve written before, there are no “Tesla fighters” to date, and concept cars that will theoretically be built in a few years and match today’s Tesla specs & performance are not Tesla fighters either. In a few years, if they are released, we’ll see … [continued]
Originally published on TeslaMondo. With Model X approaching, it’s time to speculate about what rival automakers will say when their SUVs suddenly go stale by comparison. Looking at the Model S phenomenon as a guide, we can expect lots of entertaining commentary from Tesla’s old-school competition. Here’s how rival camps, … [continued]
