Volkswagen on the electric offensive and buzzing (video)

Even Volkswagen seem to have had enough of trying to brush off diesel-gate, although they are still trying to turn the page (finally, from their perspective, we presume). A new ad released by VW USA is calling on new/old times.

While the spot makes direct reference to Volkswagen’s emission scandal in an almost Watergate (the movie) manner, it ultimately calls for ushering in a “new era of electric driving”.

The commercial is titled “Hello Light”, yet it begins in almost complete darkness with short sound clips discussing the scandal before Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ starts playing. What follows are glimpses of the ID. Buzz, probably also referencing a time when the VW bus was the vehicle of choice for any hippie. This is the full clip:

The open references are a must in America, where the criminal charges were first brought against VW.

In Europe too, Volkswagen has been making a lot of advertorial noise to rebrand as the electric carmaker. One part of the effort is a multi-million euro campaign which started this May reportedly. It sees Volkswagen push the message “just electric” on multiple channels. Some may see the timing as a little late in terms of e-mobility, but given the actual arrival of the ID.3 electric car scheduled to hit the markets by 2020, the campaign is a year ahead. Volkswagen, however, says that “normally, large scale campaigns only start in connection with the launch of a model,” but this time, the campaign includes 600 individual communication elements. More so, “for the fundamental transformation of Volkswagen towards e-mobility, we need an entirely new marketing approach,” reasons Jochen Sengpiehl, Chief Marketing Officer of the Volkswagen brand. We guess it is safe to say that the same holds for the spot advertising the ID. Buzz. The electric camper is not expected to see the actual light of the day before 2022 as reported. It will be made in America as well as China and Europe.

electrek.co