Volkswagen loves to give big fancy speeches about their transition to electric vehicles, but can they actually meet their European emissions targets? In a word, no.
Volkswagen Group expects to be fined by the European Union this year for failing to achieve its CO2-reduction target for its new-car fleet — despite the automaker’s deal to pool emissions with Chinese-owned U.K. brand MG Motor.
Automotive News
That means for 2020, Volkswagen’s new car sales polluted more than the legal limit. Talk of a green future will have to wait until… the future.
“We cannot provide a clear commitment at this point that we will achieve compliance. It will be a difficult race,” VW Group sales chief Christian Dahlheim said during the automaker’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 29.
VW had hoped its new ID3 full-electric compact hatchback would help ensure carbon compliance, but software issues plagued its September launch. Current orders for the ID3 were a little more than 40,000, Dahlheimsaid.
Automotive News
They almost had it! If only their software wasn’t a total disaster…
VW CFO Frank Witter told financial analysts that the automaker has set aside funds to cover the likely costs of the fine.
“We have [booked] a couple hundred million in provisions to be on the safe side,” he said.
Automotive News
Dear Investors,
We’re likely to incur a couple hundred million in fines for polluting more than the legal limit. But don’t worry –– we already set aside the money because we knew there was no chance we would come in below the limit.
Love Volkswagen
“Certainly it would be great to already be compliant in 2020, but we are talking a 10-year horizon at the end of the day,” Witter said. “If there was a small miss, it would not be great, but it would not be the end of the world.”
Automotive News
Yeah come on, what’s a little extra pollution and greenhouse gas emissions between friends? It’s not the end of the world! End of human civilization maybe, but the world will still be here! Just a little more polluted.
VW in September formed a pooling arrangement with MG Motor, a subsidiary of VW’s Chinese joint venture partner SAIC. The deal, for which financial conditions haven’t been undisclosed, would incorporate the U.K. brand’s electric vehicle sales into VW’s European fleet.
Automotive News
Nice, so without the pooling agreement it would have been even worse.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has pooled its emissions with EV maker Tesla. Honda said on Monday that it has joined Fiat Chrysler in pooling its fleet with Tesla’s to comply with the EU’s target.
Automotive News
Huh. Seems like these emissions credits might be pretty valuable. Interesting.