Often it takes a massive crisis before necessary changes occur. Volkswagen’s recent fraud saga seems to fit the bill. As we predicted here when the emissions-scandal first hit in September, this week the world’s largest auto manufacturer announced that they would be allocating investment to electric vehicles in an effort to win back public trust and reinvent their brand. VW’s flagship Phaeton model is to be purely electric capable of long distances on a single charge. See: Volkswagen to cut costs by $1.5B, focus on electric cars.
“There is a real chance for VW to even extract something positive from the diesel fiasco,” said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management think-tank near Cologne.
“Funneling more resources into electric mobility gives them a credible future perspective to try to overcome this crisis.”
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