Volkswagen’s onslaught of electric vehicles was supposed to put the dieselgate scandal behind them, but a poorly timed April Fool’s joke has brought the shameful episode back to light.
On Monday, CNBC broke the ‘news’ that the company was renaming their U.S. operations Voltswagen of America after a press release ‘accidentally’ spilled the beans. While the release was dated April 29th, to make it look like it was posted a month early, there was immediate speculation that this was an April Fool’s Day joke that went out early.
However, Volkswagen doubled down on the lie and confirmed the name change was ‘real’ by issuing a press release yesterday. In it, Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh was quoted as saying “We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren’t changing is this brand’s commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere.” He added, “This name change signifies a nod to our past as the peoples’ car and our firm belief that our future is in being the peoples’ electric car.”
Also Read: Voltswagen Hoax May Land VW Into Trouble With U.S. Regulators For Distorting Stock Prices
That was all just a lie and it instantly brought back memories of the last time Volkswagen lied to the world. The U.S. Department of Justice outlined the company’s effort to deceive the public and regulators in 2018, when they alleged former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn was told about emissions cheating in May 2014 and in July 2015.
Despite this, the company continued to deny the existence of defeat devices and regulators threatened to withhold authorization for Volkswagen to sell 2016 model year vehicles in the United States until they explained discrepancies in a 2014 emissions study. This threat reportedly sent Volkswagen into a panic and they held a “damage table meeting” on July 27th, 2015 in Wolfsburg, Germany.
At the meeting, senior Volkswagen executives were reportedly shown a PowerPoint presentation which detailed “(1) how VW was deceiving U.S. regulators, including precisely what information had been disclosed and what had not yet been disclosed; and (2) the potential consequences of VW being caught cheating.”
Following the meeting, Volkswagen continued the ruse. The dam finally burst at a California Air Resources Board meeting when a Volkswagen employee, in “direct contravention of the instructions from his superiors,” revealed the company’s 2.0-liter TDI engines were using defeat devices. Less than one month later, on September 3rd 2015, Volkswagen finally admitted the truth.
Needless to say, that’s not the kind of thing a company wants to bring up – especially years later, when the scandal has largely died down. However, that’s exactly what happened as a number of articles directly referenced dieselgate following the revelation that Voltswagen was a joke.
The reaction to Volkswagen’s tweet acknowledging the ruse was also decidedly negative as users mockingly said “Great job, VW marketing team.” Others were more direct as they asked “Why don’t you fix all the Dieselgate cars roaming … streets and slowly killing us all?”
Just another lie from the folks that brought us #dieselgate
— Techgnostik 🖖🏼🌏 (@Techgnostik) March 31, 2021
That’s was just the tip of the iceberg as others responded by saying “Just another lie from the folks that brought us dieselgate” and “Great ‘April Fools’ gag on *checks calendar* March 30th, with PR doubling down when questioned on veracity.”
While Volkswagen doesn’t come out smelling like a rose – NOx fumes perhaps? – they did succeed in getting word out about the ID.4 and their decision to embrace electric vehicles. However, at what cost?
