VW Decides EVs May Be Bugs, Not Features, and Decides to Continue the Development of Combustion Engines

The evidence that EVs were oversold by PR firms and are vastly underselling expectations in the real world mounts.

The Volkswagen story in 2022:

Volkswagen – the company that fired a discussion about the emissions of combustion-powered vehicles on a global scale with the Dieselgate scandal – wants to speed up its electrification strategy. The Wolfsburg-based automaker has a new plan, under which it will start producing only electric vehicles in Europe from 2033. The information was confirmed by Volkswagen’s boss Thomas Schaefer who also said that this is an earlier date compared to the previously announced 2035 target.

The Volkswagen story in 2024:

It's fair to say the transition to EVs isn't going as some automakers had projected. Several car manufacturers are delaying their lofty goals to become purely electric in the foreseeable future. Just last year, Volkswagen estimated that EVs would account for as much as 80 percent of annual sales in Europe by the end of the decade. The so-so reception of ID models has prompted VW to revise its strategy.

Of the €180 billion ($196 billion) set aside in 2023 primarily for next-generation EVs, the German brand will now use one-third to continue the development of combustion engines. The announcement comes from Arno Antlitz, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Volkswagen Group. The company intends to spend roughly €60 billion ($65 billion) to "keep our combustion cars competitive."

"VW ID.3" by Ivan Radic is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Need we say any more? I think not.

#VW #EVs #CombustionEngines #Volkswagen