Skip to main content

Volkswagen Forced to Highlight Rivals’ Products

As part of its penance for pumping untold amounts of smog-causing pollutants into America’s air over the span of roughly six years, Volkswagen paid a steep price. Yes, there was the financial cost of the diesel scandal — a price tag topping $20 billion, covering fines, buybacks, repairs, etc. Then there was the shame, with VW execs issuing public apologies so frequently, you’d think they were congressmen.

As fines and public apologies aren’t that uncommon in the automotive sphere, it’s the third act that must really grind the gears of execs in Wolfsburg. The automaker now has to do something no self-respecting car company would ever do: It has to showcase another company’s products, and not in a bad light.

Electrify America, a VW subsidiary created in 2016 as part of the automaker’s environmental remediation efforts, has an ad out. You remember Electrify America — it’s the initiative the U.S. government forced VW to spend $2 billion on over the course of 10 years. Its aim: to promote zero-emission vehicles, educate the public, and build recharging infrastructure.

One key part of VW’s agreement is that its messages must be brand neutral. Otherwise, it could just showcase the e-Golf and boast about its upcoming I.D. line of electric vehicles. Nope, that won’t fly with the feds.

And so, in Electrify America’s new ad, we see no Volkswagens, at least not at first. And not specifically. Instead, we see products from other automakers. Essentially, it’s an ad touting the virtues of the Chevrolet Bolt while slamming — quite amusingly — Subaru, which fields no electric vehicles.

It opens with an orange Subaru Outback chugging through an arid landscape, smug flannel-and-vest-clothed driver behind the wheel, “Planet Hugger” sticker clinging valiantly to the rear bumper. The theme from The Flintstones reaches our ears. At a stoplight, an orange Bolt pulls alongside, the man’s alter ego behind the wheel. From our speakers comes the unmistakable theme song from The Jetsons, implying this driver, and his car, is highly evolved. The two men exchange glances. Now, it’s the Bolt driver’s turn to look smug.

As the light goes green, the Outback driver looks on, discouraged, as the Bolt rockets away from the stop with barely a whisper. Cut the theme music, and cue the buy-an-EV message. The Bolt then drives past a woman charging her Hyundai Ioniq EV, though, unlike the Bolt, we can’t see the logo on the front of the car. It ends with a group of EVs, filmed from the rear, racing down a darkened highway, presumably towards a glorious, green future. In that group we see the Bolt, a Honda Clarity, Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, and yes, an e-Golf.

When you’ve got the feds standing over you, holding a whip, normal automaker rivalry becomes a thing of the past.

a version of this article first appeared on thetruthaboutcars.com

The post Volkswagen Forced to Highlight Rivals’ Products appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2MJ1H1P
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...
Post a Comment
Read more