Volkswagen ‘horrified’ by own Golf car ad which appears to show racist white power gesture
Volkswagen apologises and says it is “horrified” as it withdraws an advert for a new Golf model. The ad, which shows a giant pair of white hands moving a black man away from a new VW Golf and flicking him into a cafe named “Petit Colon”, which translates to little colonist in French.
Twitter and Instagram users pointed out that as the German words “Der Neue Golf”, meaning the new Golf, fade into view; the letters can be briefly read as a racial slur. Other users felt the hand appeared to be making a white power gesture.
The German company said it could “understand the outrage and anger” as it pulled the 10 second video from its social media accounts, their statement said “Without question: the video is inappropriate and tasteless. We will clarify how something like this could happen, and there will be consequences.” VW board member for sales and marketing, Juergen Stackmann and head of diversity management, Elke Heitmueller both made apologies on Twitter and LinkedIn, saying “We posted a racist advertising video on Volkswagen’s Instagram channel. We understand the public outrage at this. Because we’re horrified, too. This video is an insult to all achievements of the civil rights movement. It is an insult to every decent person.” Head of the worker’s council at VW, Bernd Osterloh, said “I’m ashamed of this disgusting video, and I speak for the entire workforce when I say that.”
Initially, perhaps foolishly, VW only issued a half hearted apology, saying that the “origin of the people depicted” was “irrelevant” and that “As you can imagine, we are shocked and surprised that our Instagram story could be so misunderstood”. A full apology and admission of wrong doing soon followed after a new wave of criticisms on social media, with one user saying “No one here got the wrong impression” and “This is bad and racist communication.”
Social media users continue to criticise with one person posting “Oh great, so Germans are racist again”, whilst a Twitter user said “I’m always baffled by how big conglomerates such as Volkswagen can let racist ads go on air and then apologize after the fact as if they had no clue it was offensive,”
Volkswagen was founded under the Nazis and translates to “the people’s car”; VW said that due to its history it always seeks to “position itself against all forms of racism, xenophobia and discrimination”. “Many initiatives in the company and in our global workforce promote diversity, integration and unprejudiced cooperation,” they said. “That makes it all the more annoying that we made this mistake.”
]]>
Land Rover has confirmed that it will be presenting the new Range Rover Evoque Convertible to the world in 2016; the new luxury cabriolet was announced in a rather unusual way – by the release of a short film showing the prototype being put through its paces, forty metres below the streets of London! An official Land Rover marketing website tells the tale of how the new convertible was “granted exclusive access to the 26-mile (42km) network of Crossrail tunnels for a development test with a difference”. The opening scene of the film shows an aerial view of the streets of London at night with street and building lights sparkling, then a smattering of famous London landmarks before the disguised Evoque convertible is shown being lowered on a platform down into the Crossrail tunnel system by crane. Director of Land Rover Programmes, Murray Dietsch, said “The tunnels are still under construction, so we had a unique opportunity to explore the vehicle’s all-terrain ability in unchartered territory.” The film, titled “Range Rover Evoque Convertible revealed testing at Europe’s largest construction project”, shows the Evoque with its roof down, deftly handling a series of obstacles in the 6.2 metre diameter tunnel network before being driven up a ramp into the interior of a truck, the truck tailgate is raised as the words “Range Rover Evoque Convertible” – “Capability, performance and comfort” – “tested to Land Rover’s rigorous standards” are displayed, followed by On Sale 2016. The Land Rover website has a series of films about the Evoque Convertible, covering design, capability, infotainment, driver aid technologies, safety and the Z-folding roof. The website quotes a maximum length of 437.0cm, width 208.5cm and height 160.9cm with a combined fuel economy of 49.6mpg, there will be two models of the Evoque Convertible available, the HSE Dynamic from £47,500 – described as a convertible for all seasons and the HSE Dynamic LUX from £51,700 – described as a technologically driven open-top for all seasons. Both models will have the choice of a TD4 diesel engine or a Si4 petrol engine. The new convertible is to be built at the Land Rover Halewood plant, alongside the five door and coupe Evoque models.
This is not the first time Land Rover has gone subterranean, the five door Evoque was driven through Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool when it was launched in 2011.
]]>
The problems faced by German car maker Volkswagen seem to be never ending with fresh revelations emerging on an almost daily basis.
The latest chapter of the sorry tale involves the fuel efficiency and levels of CO2 in at least 800,000 vehicles, with analysts warning that the implications of fixing fuel consumption tests could be far reaching and have a much worse impact on the company than the initial diesel emissions rigging scandal.
A Volkswagen press statement reads “The Volkswagen Group is moving forward with the clarification of the diesel issue: during the course of internal investigations irregularities were found when determining type approval CO2 levels. Based on present knowledge around 800,000 vehicles from the Volkswagen Group could be affected. An initial estimate puts the economic risks at approximately two billion euros. The Board of Management of Volkswagen AG will immediately start a dialog with the responsible type approval agencies regarding the consequences of these findings. This should lead to a reliable assessment of the legal, and the subsequent economic consequences of this not yet fully explained issue.
Under the ongoing review of all processes and workflows in connection with diesel engines it was established that the CO2 levels and thus the fuel consumption figures for some models were set too low during the CO2 certification process. The majority of the vehicles concerned have diesel engines.” A key part of this statement is the last sentence, where Volkswagen states that the “majority” of the vehicles involved in this latest revelation have diesel engines; this can only mean that vehicles with petrol engines have also been affected. The same press statement also included words from the CEO of Volkswagen, Matthias Muller, who said “From the very start I have pushed hard for the relentless and comprehensive clarification of events. We will stop at nothing and nobody. This is a painful process, but it is our only alternative. For us, the only thing that counts is the truth. That is the basis for the fundamental realignment that Volkswagen needs”, he added “The Board of Management of Volkswagen AG deeply regrets this situation and wishes to underscore its determination to systematically continue along the present path of clarification and transparency.”
Many countries around the world, including Britain, use the levels of CO2 emissions as a basis for setting the rates for vehicle tax, false CO2 readings would have meant that any vehicles involved would be liable for lower tax rates. This could prove to be even more expensive for Volkswagen than the emissions rigging scandal if the company has to repay the lost revenue to governments.
Volkswagen shares are still dropping and reports say that the company has now lost around 40% of its pre scandal value.
]]>
German car maker Volkswagen has announced its third quarter figures and, as widely anticipated, it has reported a loss – its first operating loss for at least fifteen years. Following the revelations concerning the rigging of emissions in VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda vehicles with the EA 189 diesel engine built between 2009 and 2015, Volkswagen initially announced that it would reserve €6.5bn (£4.7bn) towards the cost of recalling the affected vehicles, but it seems the decision was taken to increase the amount to €6.7bn (£4.8bn). For the third quarter of the year Volkswagen reported a €3.48bn (£2.52bn) operating loss and a €2.52bn (£1.82bn) pre-tax loss, for the same period Volkswagen saw their vehicle sales drop by 3.7% and production by 11.6% compared with last year. Volkswagen has warned that profits for the full year were expected to be “down significantly” due to the enormous costs of handling the emissions rigging scandal, of course there are also going to be legal costs and the car maker mentions in its quarterly report that it is expecting the following types of litigation – criminal and civil charges from national regulatory authorities, class action or individual civil lawsuits from its investors and class action or individual lawsuits from its customers. Volkswagen also said that its legal costs “cannot be estimated at the current time” although they accept that “Considerable financial charges may be incurred as the legal risks crystallise”. Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board of Management, Matthias Mueller, said “The figures show the core strength of the Volkswagen Group on the one hand, while on the other the initial impact of the current situation is becoming clear. We will do everything in our power to win back the trust we have lost.”
The value of Volkswagen shares have fallen significantly since the scandal came to light and the car maker announced that it would be reducing its budget for research and development, it has already achieved a reduction of more than €1bn (£.72bn). Chief Financial Officer, Frank Witter, said “The Volkswagen Group has very solid and robust liquidity resources. This will help us manage the challenging situation cause by the financial impact of the diesel issue”. CEO Matthias Mueller recently said that Volkswagen was made of “strong stuff” and had a good chance “to shine again in two to three years”.
Following the announcement of its third quarter figures Volkswagen shares rose 3.2%.
Special Thanks WillVision Photography for providing the image.
]]>
Toyota is once again the world leaders for car sales after knocking Volkswagen off the top spot. This is not entirely a result of the emissions rigging scandal as the figures only include a little less than two weeks of sales following the admission from VW that some of its diesel cars had been fitted with the defeat device. The scandal has all but destroyed confidence in the German car maker and some analysts are predicting it may take many years before VW will be able to reclaim their place in leading the world for global car sales. Volkswagen has revealed a new strategy in which they will focus on electric and hybrid vehicles, with the next Phaeton saloon to be released as an all-electric version. In the meantime Toyota is about to launch its new and redesigned version of its best selling hybrid – the Prius, boasting that it will have better fuel efficiency.
Volkswagen has admitted that 11 million vehicles around the world have been affected by the emissions rigging scandal, with around 1.2 million said to be affected in the UK. VW owners are becoming angry and frustrated about how long it is taking for information to reach them, the Managing Director of Volkswagen Group UK, Paul Willis said “This is a very serious matter and the most important people in all this are our customers. We are trying our hardest; it is not the case that we are sitting on information here.” Mr Willis warned that it was likely to take until the end of 2016 before the recall was complete, saying that “It’s better to be thorough and get it absolutely right, rather than do it in haste.”
The German magazine Der Spiegel recently reported that “at least 30 people” had been involved in the emissions rigging scam but this was dismissed by Volkswagen as being “completely without basis” and that a German criminal investigation had so far discovered that there were a lot fewer than the figure quoted by Der Spiegel. A spokesman for the prosecutors in Brunswick, Germany, Klaus Ziehe said that “more than two, but a lot fewer than 10 people” identified. Matthias Mueller, the new Chief Executive of VW, has said that four employees had been suspended and that this included three executives.
Volkswagen has taken a charge of €6.5 billion against their third quarter earnings towards the costs of recalling around 11 million vehicles around the world; this is widely expected by analysts to plunge the company into the red.
Special Thanks David Fernandez for providing the image.
]]>It now appears that 11 million cars around the world were installed with the defeat device, although Volkswagen has said that the software has not been activated in the majority of them. The German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt admitted that the number of vehicles affected in Germany alone is around 2.8 million, almost six times as many as those in the United States.
Sales of diesel cars are anticipated to fall off and tougher standards of testing are widely expected worldwide, Switzerland has already taken the step of banning the sale of some Volkswagen models. Law suits have quickly been launched in the United States and criminal investigations are likely to take place, it is going to be an extremely difficult time for the Volkswagen brand.
Special Thanks La Moncloa Gobierno de España for providing the image.
]]>
The new VW Phaeton is ready for production, but is deemed too pricey to build. It has been reported that Volkswagen are delaying the launch of the latest Phaeton Luxury saloon, despite development being completed, as they need to reduce the cost of production and materials.
Originally designed by Ferdinand Piech to compete with the Mercedes Benz S Class, the VW Phaeton was launched in 2002, the large German saloon was hand built in the same factory as the Bentley Continental GT, with both luxury vehicles using the same underpinnings. Ferdinand Piech is no longer a part of Volkswagen, having resigned in April 2015; this may be part of the reason why the decision has been taken to cut the costs of producing the Phaeton. The luxurious saloon was said to be capable of maintaining 186 miles per hour in temperatures of 50 degrees centigrade, at the same time allowing those on board to enjoy an interior temperature of 22 degrees centigrade.
Latest reports from Bloomberg have said that sales of the VW Phaeton have been in decline for years, sales of its main rival – the Mercedes Benz S Class, reached 100,000 last year, quite a staggering comparison to the rather paltry 4,000 sales of the Phaeton. Those sales figures for last year show a drop of 30 per cent, making it the lowest volume for a current VW production vehicle. Market researcher at IHS Automotive, Tim Urquhart, spoke to Bloomberg and said “There is always the element of the Phaeton being the answer to a question no one ever asked”, he voiced surprise that VW is sticking with the model, saying “and given the current drive to save costs at VW, it is even more lucky to survive”.
Volkswagen has not released any details of its new flagship model but it is widely expected to remain a large, four door luxury saloon – although perhaps not as luxurious as originally intended by Ferdinand Piech. Many in the industry have suggested that the VW Phaeton could end up as an Audi A8 in disguise, sharing almost all but the sheet metal, which is ironic as it has very often been viewed as an unnecessary competitor to the Audi A8. Production is not likely to be shifted to China to save costs so it will be interesting to see where savings will be made.
Of course all of this could be about to change following VW’s admission of rigging emission tests and the resignation of Martin Winterkorn, there are even some who are calling for the return of Ferdinand Piech.
Special Thanks Dein Nordrhein-Westfalen for providing the image
]]>
A new government service has been introduced allowing anyone who has been charged with a minor motoring offence, such as speeding, to make a plea online. The “Make a Plea” system was piloted from August last year in Manchester and, following this successful trial, where more than 1,200 people used the service, the government is to roll it out gradually across the rest of England and Wales from this month. The courts presently process thousands of minor motoring offences every year and this new scheme, which can be used as an alternative to the present methods of either court attendance or a postal plea has been designed to reduce case time and costs for the courts and the police, it will also allow the police to focus on those cases that are more complex and demanding and is part of plans by the government to modernise our courts. Mr Shailesh Vara is Courts Minister and he said “Digital technology gives us an opportunity to make the justice system simpler, clearer and faster – and part of this means reducing or removing the unnecessary movement of paper, and people, around the system.” Anyone wishing to enter their plea will be able to access the “Make a Plea” system via the secure website 24 hours a day; they will also be able to view the details of their case and any evidence against them. The new system will mean they may be able to avoid having to attend the court in person and anyone making a guilty plea may result in a discount on any fines imposed by the court. Mr Vara stated that “The new ‘Make a Plea’ service is reducing case time and costs for the courts and the police, ensuring that they can focus on the most complex cases. It makes it easy, simple and quick for people to access justice.”
The government is also giving consideration to extending this type of service to other low level crimes as part of key government objectives for improved use of digital technology, Mr Shailesh Vara said that “Wider modernisation of the courts has included investing £160 million in digital technology for courtrooms including video links, wifi and improved IT systems to end the system’s reliance on paper.”
For more information about the new “Make a Plea” system please visit the government website at Make A Plea
Special thanks Lee Haywood for providing the image.
]]>So which cars were the best in the Euro NCAP safety tests during 2014? Here are the best performing five star rated cars for their size category:
| Mercedes-Benz C Class | Large Family Car |
| Nissan Qashqai | Small Family Car |
| VW Golf Sportsvan | Small MPV |
| Land Rover Discovery Sport | Small Off-Road 4×4 |
| Skoda Fabia | Supermini |
| Lexus NX | Alternatively fuelled vehicle |
The Secretary General of Euro NCAP, Michiel van Ratingen, said “We congratulate those manufacturers whose cars are in our Best in Class list for last year. It shows a commitment to offer the highest levels of safety which, nowadays, means active accident prevention as well as top-rate crash protection. As these technologies become more widespread and costs fall, we will see more manufacturers follow the example of the class leaders and offer the best all-round safety to all consumers.”
Although very encouraging these results have revealed that a rather worrying trend appears to be emerging, every one of the cars tested by Euro NCAP in 2014 for the large family car category achieved a five star rating, whereas those in the smaller car categories struggled. The Skoda Fabia was the only car to achieve a five star rating in the supermini category, even though there were 14 supermini models tested in 2014. This is probably due to the cost of safety technology such as driver assist, an expensive option not often available in the smaller, competitively priced cars.
Special Thank Werner Bayer For Providing The Image
]]>
The 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, or CES 2015 as it is more widely known, was the venue chosen for the introduction of the Audi LG smartwatch and it appears to have caused quite a buzz!
There have been many rumours around about the possibility of the release of a new LG smartwatch and this prototype is not only good looking but also truly “smart”. Instead of Android Wear the Audi/LG smartwatch runs on Open webOS, it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, is water resistant and is constructed of stainless steel with Sapphire crystal and a quality leather strap.
A smartwatch can be set up to alert you to incoming calls, text messages and emails, some will even enable you to check for Facebook and Twitter notifications. Most smartwatches will allow you to monitor your health, such as your heart rate and body temperature, they can also assist you with your fitness regime by tracking the amount of steps taken, distance covered, calories burned, etc. There are already many, many Apps available out there for the smartwatch user, such as weather updates, calendar, music, calculator, games and so on, as the smartwatch becomes more mainstream the amount and range of Apps available is certain to soar.
Audi and LG have not released a great deal of information about their smartwatch, reports of its features are varied and include cellular connectivity, smartphone camera control, health and fitness tracking, etc. However, the feature that has caused the buzz and got everyone excited is the one that enables you to pair with your car, using NFC. Near field communication (NFC) allows you to use the smartwatch as your set of car keys, all you need to do to unlock or lock your car is to simply tap the door handle, having gained access you can inform your car that you are inside by tapping an NFC enabled panel and then switch on the engine by tapping the “start engine” button. No keys required! It has been reported that this smartwatch can also control the stereo and adjust the settings for the vehicle’s climate control.
Head of Research and Development at Audi, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, demonstrated the prototype of this incredible smartwatch at CES 2015 by using it to start an Audi Prologue and driving it onto the stage, Dr Hackenberg said “If I want to stop the engine, I can do that again with my smart watch”.
No price or launch date have been released for the Audi LG smartwatch, even its name remains a mystery, although it is widely expected to be available in the early part of 2016.
Special Thanks Nick Jaynes for providing the image
]]>