How Do You Get Past a Scandal?

In most cases the best way for anyone or any organization to get past a scandal is to focus on doing the exact opposite of what got you in trouble in the first place. For Volkswagen the news has been widespread about their scandal which was caused by a defeat device being installed in their diesel engines. This device was designed to only allow the emissions control systems to operate when the vehicle was hooked up to the testing machinery. The result was findings of these engines producing more than forty times the allowable emissions when in normal driving modes.

In order to move past this scandal and create a new focus and reputation for their brand name, Volkswagen has been all over the automotive news as they look to unleash several EV models on the world. Like I said, do the opposite, which would be for Volkswagen the creation of cars that have zero emissions put into the environment. While we already have a wide variety of EV models on the market they would have to come up with something extremely special in order to be the vehicle that we want to drive in place of the gasoline models we have now.

To create this vehicle Volkswagen has announced the vehicle they will show off at the Paris Motor Show in September will have the range we want and come in a build that’s familiar to us. The range is reportedly set around 300 miles, which would be amazing as there are only a handful of cars on the market today that reach up over the 200 mile mark for the range. Once this car meets with the approval of the public that gathers at the show the production timeframe expected is between 2018 and 2019.

The goal for Volkswagen is to produces thirty new EV models by 2025 starting with this one mode. They certainly have the production ability to create as many as three-million vehicles a year to begin to flood the market full of cars that offer zero emissions. If this car really can reach a 300 mile range it will be able to go farther than the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf without any problems at all. Volkswagen is planning to change the entire landscape of the EV world, which would certainly help to turn the tides of the scandal they’ve found themselves in the middle of.

This new EV model should be about the same size as the Golf but have the cargo space of the Passat. We will certainly wait with bated breath to see what this car looks like when it shows up on the market next month. The only question left is whether or not this is going to be enough to change the perception many of us have of the Volkswagen brand and what it stands for. Hopefully once VW has paid out the agreed upon amount for the diesels and begun the process of giving us the EV models we want Volkswagen will make its way back near the top of the leader board in the US.