Five years after Dieselgate, VW USA wants to be the climate-friendly alternative

Just a few years after being hit with massive fines for its role in the emissions cheating scandal, Volkswagen is hoping to re-brand as the climate-friendly alternative in the American market, Astrid Dörner and Katharina Kort report in Handelsblatt. The U.S. plays a major role in the company’s strategy going forward, the article says, and Volkswagen sees an opportunity because the electric vehicle market in the U.S. is still relatively undeveloped: electric cars currently account for just two percent of the U.S. market. "There are not many competitors in the market," Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen USA, told Handelsblatt. “"In the past we were often too slow to adapt to new trends. This must not happen this time. It is therefore a rare opportunity for us to catch up." Volkswagen is currently investing $800 million in a new plant in Tennessee to produce an all-electric SUV. In entering the U.S. electric car market, Volkswagen is going up against Tesla, which currently controls about 60 percent of the electric car market, Handelsblatt reports.

Under its current CEO, Herbert Diess, VW has embraced electric mobility more vigorously than any other major auto company, initiating a major transformation in its business in the aftermath of the Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.