Volkswagen Says EVs 'Key Part' of Its Future (If History Doesn't Repeat Itself)
A Volkswagen of America spokesman said Tuesday that electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid cars would be a “key part” of the automaker’s research and development strategy after CEO Matthias Müller told 20,000 workers in Wolfsburg that it would postpone or cancel other projects that weren’t critical to sales.
“Electrification, whether full EV, PHEV, or HEV, is a key part of our strategy long term in order to meet worldwide (greenhouse gas) targets,” a Volkswagen spokesman told TTAC on Tuesday.
In 2014, Volkswagen spent $13.5 billion on research and development — more than any other company in all sectors. However, that budget could be severely restricted as the automaker prepares to pay billions for software that cheated emissions tests.
Volkswagen could be looking for ways to not repeat history, when a 1960s lawsuit from Tatra crippled development well into the 1980s.
A lawsuit by Tatra over claims that Volkswagen copied its 1936 T97 for the German automaker’s Beetle that was made two years later, which was eventually settled for 3 million German Marks in 1961, could be a roadmap for Volkswagen today. (Most sources say VW settled the suit in 1961 for 3 million Marks, however one Wikipedia entry says it was settled in 1965 for 1 million Marks.)
The blow to Volkswagen’s research budget was measurable, according to Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Historian Heinz Schneider.
Volkswagen built the Beetle well into the 1970s, well after sales lagged, “because they didn’t know anything else to build,” Schneider said. “The Tatra lawsuit didn’t leave them much to spend on research.”
Volkswagen’s first water-cooled car was the rebadged NSU K70, a car that largely failed, according to Schneider. Volkswagen purchased NSU in 1969 and sold the rebadged water-cooled car for five years. Volkswagen fitted its Passat with a water-cooled Audi engine in 1972, but Volkswagen continued to produce air-cooled cars well into the 1980s, which didn’t do the automaker any favors.
Volkswagen sales sank during the 1970s and 1980s until its Golf gained traction with more buyers, Schneider said.
“It was the Golf that really saved them,” he said.
Schneider, who said he’s written more than 1,000 stories on Volkswagen’s history, said it would be difficult for the automaker to overcome its most-recent scandal.
“They could probably be wiped out,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re going to survive this.”
(H/T to Murilee Martin who’s written extensively about VW’s malaise-era cars.)
More by Aaron Cole
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- MRF 95 T-Bird These 164s, as documented by its owner have to be constantly sorted, as they say. They are nice drivers. I’d rather find a, under the 25 year rule nice and easier to deal with Type 916 Alfa Romeo GTV/Spyder.
- Jeff If VW offers enough of a pay increase and benefits then there will be no union. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have managed to keep from being unionized by offering wages and benefits slightly below the UAW. Seems that VW is either not doing that or just has management and labor issues they need to resolve. VW would be better to resolve any labor issues and be competitive in pay and benefits is they don't want to be unionized.
- Google Maybe if the Toronto police weren't so busy falsely arresting reporters who were doing their job, they might have more time to protect the citizens of Toronto from these thieves. Of course its easier to pick on peaceful reporters than actually arrest criminals who may have guns!
- SCE to AUX It's fun when liberal interests fight each other.
- Varezhka Suzuki Jimny, Toyota Century, and I know it technically just ended production but Honda e.
Comments
Join the conversation
VW could start by offering the e-Golf in all 50 states. Reviews of that vehicle are very good. Even so, it's only sold 2555 copies in the US through September, which is about the same quantity as Tesla sells in 3 weeks.
That historian is clueless. Does he really believe a one-time DM 3m fine in 1961 had any impact on VW R&D spending way into the 70s? Just for reference, in 1961 alone VW had over 4bn DM in sales and a profit of 72m DM. Ridiculous. Some historian.