Hot! Volkswagen: What's Next

[KiwiRob]

If there were more swiss, swedes, spanish, frebnch we would all be speaking german.

This make no sense at all, Swedish is a North Germanic language, so is Danish and Norwegian. Swedes, Danes and Norwegians can pick up German pretty quickly. One of Switzerland 4 official language is German, where do the French fit?

 

[Fastpaddy]

This make no sense at all, Swedish is a North Germanic language, so is Danish and Norwegian. Swedes, Danes and Norwegians can pick up German pretty quickly. One of Switzerland 4 official language is German, where do the French fit?

I meant in the fact that they were either of no resistance to hitler, or infact supplied or secretly supported hitler.

 

[klier]

I meant in the fact that they were either of no resistance to hitler, or infact supplied or secretly supported hitler.

LMAO yeah right. Alternate reality.

 

[Fastpaddy]

LMAO yeah right. Alternate reality.

You clearly have no grasp on history.

Probably because you are from a hitler appeasing nation

 

[Centurion]

This is good news for VW. It's basically them saying "Hey, we have produced EVs that have had flaws. We might not be able to overcome challenges internally ourselves. Let's continue delivering our own architecture whilst hedging by partnering externally.

VW and Rivian officially kick off $5.8 billion joint venture, announce leadership

Subcompact cars will also be part of the deal.

www.theverge.com

 

[martinbo]

Weird. What's the point of a VW-Rivian partnership in light of VW only just resurrecting Scout as a direct rival to Rivian?

 

[Centurion]

Weird. What's the point of a VW-Rivian partnership in light of VW only just resurrecting Scout as a direct rival to Rivian?

-A technology partnership for VW to learn alternative ways of building an EV platform and delivery software the runs well.
-Access to a US production plant. This will unlock grants that can flood cash into the development of EV cars.
-Scout cars won't enter production until 2027. There could be scope for parts sharing between Scout and Rivian cars. Scout cars will benefit from VW dealer network and could also be sold at different price points to Rivian cars. Although on the surface they appear to be similar-ish retro inspried EVs, they could be specced differently and appeal to different customers.

 

[AndreB]

Rivian is losing big money every year and nobody knows if they will ever become profitable, VW partnership could bring their tech in Europe faster which is good, otherwise will be mostly the Chinese.

 

[KiwiRob]

-A technology partnership for VW to learn alternative ways of building an EV platform and delivery software the runs well.
-Access to a US production plant. This will unlock grants that can flood cash into the development of EV cars.
-Scout cars won't enter production until 2027. There could be scope for parts sharing between Scout and Rivian cars. Scout cars will benefit from VW dealer network and could also be sold at different price points to Rivian cars. Although on the surface they appear to be similar-ish retro inspried EVs, they could be specced differently and appeal to different customers.

Haven't you been following the kerfuffle between VW and the US dealer network over the Scott, VW want to sell direct to the public, bypassing the dealer network.

 

[Design FIRST]

In attempting to avoid the politics of ethics, morals, etc...

It pleases me that VW appears keen on expanding cooperation and investment with and in North American automotive component and vehicle manufacturers. And despite often voiced criticism, Germany in general is well advised to not only maintain, but tighten ties with North America. And despite many Germans denying this, Germany is immensely dependent on North America in more aspects than merely commerce and trade. Incoming POTUS Trump has quite vocally invited expanding German investment in the U.S. My opinion is that Germany and its companies should oblige. Expanding and strenghtening ties with the U.K. is also of essence.

 

[Centurion]

Rivian is losing big money every year and nobody knows if they will ever become profitable, VW partnership could bring their tech in Europe faster which is good, otherwise will be mostly the Chinese.

Correctly. Rivian needs distribution. Without scale, it's difficult to survive as a new car manufacturer. Name a mass-manufacturing car manufacturer other than Tesla that's launched in the past 20 years and is still solvent?

Haven't you been following the kerfuffle between VW and the US dealer network over the Scott, VW want to sell direct to the public, bypassing the dealer network.

Do you think that selling directly to customer will be positive for VW?

 

[Rolf]

Do you think that selling directly to customer will be positive for VW?

I think this will probably become the next big thing in the auto industry to save costs, sell directly to the buyer through online platforms and have a reduced number of dealers that contain a handful of cars for test drives and servicing only and no sales.

Nissan is also going down this route, so it looks like many car companies are following the method that Tesla has pioneered.

 

[klier]

Name a mass-manufacturing car manufacturer other than Tesla that's launched in the past 20 years and is still solvent?

China has at least 10

 

[Matski]

Name a mass-manufacturing car manufacturer other than Tesla that's launched in the past 20 years and is still solvent?

BYD

 

[Centurion]

BYD

That's my point. There's been like 10 Tesla killers who have either gone bankrupt or not sold 100,000. Therefore the odds are against Rivian surviving without a big partnership.

 

[Design FIRST]

It has been disclosed that Rivian technology has been successfully tested in the form of an Audi Q6 etron development vehicle. The development time was allegedly THREE MONTHS-and the tech is functioning without any sort of glitches. This simply displays what an embarrassing mess VWs CARIAD subsidiary is.

 

[AndreB]

BYD

BYD is a battery manufacturer, basically the most important part of an EV so they don't count.

 

[Matski]

BYD is a battery manufacturer, basically the most important part of an EV so they don't count.

The question wasn't limited to EVs, and neither was BYDs product portfolio as it happens.

 

[Zgeronkill]

That's my point. There's been like 10 Tesla killers who have either gone bankrupt or not sold 100,000. Therefore the odds are against Rivian surviving without a big partnership.

Just like any other such project. It's unlikely that anyone will be able to compete with Tesla anytime soon in principle

 

[J.E]

Volkswagen may need China, but China no longer needs Volkswagen.