Different stories was launched from the headquarters of Volkswagen regarding the Diesel vehicles, last couple of months. At the Paris Auto Show in September, CEO of VW said that the producer is reconsidering to offer diesel models to the U.S. market.
Last week the CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, Hinrich Woebcken, told reporters: “Emissions standards in following years are getting tougher and tougher. Why don’t you put the money and investments to comply with these standards, why don’t you put the money on the spot where the future is?” he asked, speaking of VW’s new focus on electric vehicles. On the other hand Americas president of Audi, Scott Keogh, said last week: “Once we hopefully get past everything, I see an opportunity for potentially, probably to offer it on one model, and that model would probably be the Q7 SUV”
VW set up new recovery strategy including SUVs, electric cars and digital services
Now again, VW CEO Diesss make the statement and finally ended the speculations about this story. He stated on Tuesday that diesel vehicles will no longer be the part of the lineup in the United States. This was first reported by European business daily Handelsblatt, and VW’s spokesman confirmed the information to the Reuters.
“For years we have been lacking a blueprint for success in the United States, while we are losing ground to rivals in markets like Brazil or India. VW had missed the SUV boom,” Diess said. “We not only want to be profitable in Europe and China but are determined to generate positive results in all major markets by 2020,” he added.
Same day after he state that diesel is not coming back to the U.S. Diess presented new recovery strategy to 2025 and beyond. Strategy includes many initiatives like SUVs, electric cars, digital services. Beside plans to offer 19 SUV models globally by 2020, brand will include also EV, with the aims of 1 million sales a year by 2025.The long-term goal was to lift the VW brand’s operating profit margin to 6 percent by 2025, compared with just 2 percent forecast for this year.
It is clear that company will not return to the technology. Although many predicted that will happened when the public forget about the emission scandal. One is sure, buyers will for sure remember that auto industry giant tried to cheat, and installed secret software in its diesel cars to circumvent emissions tests. After they have been exposed, VW agreed on a settlement with 475.000 owners of diesel vehicles in the U.S. worth a $14.7 billion.
