I’m sure by now most of you have seen the new TV commercial
VW produced with their new ad agency dubbed: “Hello Light”.
The commercial “Hello Light” also came with the famous Simon
& Garfunkel song “Sound of Silence”.
As the commercial begins, it’s totally dark and all you hear are chopped
up pieces of news announcers speaking of the TDI scandal from back in 2015 when
the famous song chimes in with its recognizable lyrics, “hello darkness my old
friend”.
Next you see a designer trying to figure out how to move on
to the next frontier in the automotive industry in “light” of the previous
news. This is followed by an upbeat in
the music as factory welding sparks electrify the commercial and robotic
machinery starts in motion to build the next generation of Volkswagen.
As you witnessed, the commercial finishes with a shot of a
concept car that vividly resembles the iconic van (bus) of yesteryear and
personifies electrification as the direction Volkswagen is taking into the
future. (Of course, if you look closely,
the disclaimer at the end reads “concept vehicle shown, specifications may
vary”).
We’ve already taken many phone calls from customer’s asking,
“when can I have that bus?”. The answer
is soon but nobody really knows. My best
guess is year model 2023-2024. The first
EV (electric vehicle) will be produced and ready for sale at the end of next
year. Its code name (at this point) is
the ID CROZZ and it’s an SUV type vehicle.
Volkswagen’s entire reason for this commercial was simply to
close the door on the past and show the American public where it’s going in the
future. All the while portraying the
responsibility they’ve adapted to become a global leader in EV technology.
Volkswagen’s new CEO, Scott Keogh came to us as the past
president of Audi here in the United States for the previous 12 years. Scott’s vision for the VW brand and its
future is very profound. Scott claims
the brand will reduce its carbon footprint 30% by the year 2025 and be totally
carbon neutral by the year 2050. That
too is a profound statement issued by a car company. EV technology will dominate our industry and
Volkswagen plans to be the global leader while stating: “making it affordable
to millions, not just millionaires”. Scott claims, VW will be spending $50 billion
dollars globally between now and the year 2028 to bring EV technology to the
market.
As of today, there is not enough EV technology that’s been
available for the public to fully comprehend how this new way of travel is
going to transpire. I can tell you,
battery technology and EV technology moves very fast and changes
constantly. We are all aware of a few
things that must happen prior to EV’s becoming the norm. Distance, cost, reliability, just to name a
few but I can assure you, Volkswagen is in a place to be the leader in EV
technology and has said publicly that they plan to: “make Tesla
irrelevant”.
As with anything, time will tell but for now and several
years to come, many of our combustible engines are approaching the 40-50 mpg
range on fuel economy and new product is coming out constantly. Our cars and SUV’s today also come with a
6-year, 72,000-mile bumper to bumper warranty so it’s a great time to buy and
we’ll all watch as this EV technology comes to us in the future.
As for now, business is great, the deals are phenomenal and
the selection is large. Come by and see
us, we would love to show you our new products.
John Chauvin
General Manager – Hewlett Volkswagen
Comments
Post a Comment