Mercedes and Volkswagen DITCH their EV ambitions!
13 hours ago Charles Rotter 37 Comments
MGUY Australia
Transcript
Well, the initial slow drip of auto manufacturers walking away from their foolish EV promises has now turned into a flood. Almost every week, you read of yet another automaker desperately backtracking on their electrification plans as the market dries up and sales plummet. The latest car makers to cave and back away from these mad electrification plans are Volkswagen and Mercedes, who have hedged their bets with more hybrids, allowing production of internal combustion engines to continue. There’s also more good news from Mercedes, which we’ll get to later in the video.
This isn’t rocket science. There’s a simple principle which these manufacturers should follow if they want to be successful: build the cars people want and to hell with what the government says. Welcome back to M-Guy, British engineer and lawyer, now Sydney-based YouTuber. Be sure to follow me on the usual socials for more content, links in the description, and there’s a code on screen; scan that with your phone if you want to sign up for an occasional M-Guy email. It’d be great to have you on board.
Bloomberg reports on how Volkswagen’s EV fantasy has just collided with reality. Volkswagen walks back EV or bus strategy that rankled rivals. CEO Oliver Blumer is turning to hybrids and striking partnerships as EV sales slow. Volkswagen AG’s all-in on electric vehicle plan is no more. The namesake VW brand, which pitched its ID family of electric cars as central to its future, admitted last week it will need more plug-in hybrids as EV sales decelerate. This marks just the latest adjustment VW has made to its electrification strategy after the company botched several model releases and fell behind in China, where local brands now dominate. The manufacturer has also shelved efforts to seek outside investors for its battery unit and scrapped plans for a 2 billion Euro ($2.2 billion) EV factory in Germany. In fact, the automaker is selling so many cars still running on combustion engines that it’s on track to overshoot its emissions allowance next year, leading Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blumer to ask European regulators for leniency.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/05/19/mercedes-and-volkswagen-ditch-their-ev-ambitions-mguy-australia/
