Voltswagen of America • Hacker News Board

Re: Voltswagen of America

#391

Post by sib » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

__david__ wrote: post #371

crazygringo wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The company was apparently planning to make the announcement at the end of April but accidentally published a press release about the name change early Monday afternoon, which was first spotted by CNBC before it was taken down. The proximity of the name change to April Fool’s Day initially raised suspicions that it was just a joke. But VW insists that it’s a real thing, so here we are." Sounds to me like a publici…

You find it that hard to believe that someone typed the wrong date into a CMS?

No, but I find it very hard to believe that a gigantic company had a press release finalized and sitting in a CMS a month in advance, just waiting for time to pass.

(Source: have worked in 3 large public companies and seen how these things come down to the wire with approvals from PR, Marketing, IR, Legal, Country Leadership, Corporate, etc...)

Re: Voltswagen of America

#392

Post by dathinab » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:47 PM UTC

agrafix wrote: post #4

Hmm did they release their April 1 joke too early by mistake?

Supposedly they insist on it not being a joke.

But Voltswaken, honstely if that isn't a joke it's sad. It is basically guaranteed to be a typo crisis. I can just say have fun, to all the banks and other companies doing business with it.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#393

Post by eric_b » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:47 PM UTC

I think names are more important than people think. I am frankly shocked they would make this change (assuming it's not an April Fool's joke)

This has to be the worst branding move I've ever seen, with the exception maybe of Netflix and Qwikster

Re: Voltswagen of America

#394

Post by kube-system » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:47 PM UTC

Vrondi wrote: post #384

yunohn wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> better performance than the government allowed My understanding was that this performance came at the expense of more pollution, which is what the gov is regulating?

Right, and many customers would prefer the performance, thank you very much.

Yeah, but most of us -- even enthusiasts -- aren't cutting off their cats to do so.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#395

Post by rriepe » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:51 PM UTC

agrafix wrote: post #4

Hmm did they release their April 1 joke too early by mistake?

It turns out that they did.

https://nypost.com/2021/03/30/vw-says-voltswagen-rebrand-was...

Re: Voltswagen of America

#396

Post by rriepe » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:52 PM UTC

dathinab wrote: post #392

agrafix wrote: post #4

Hmm did they release their April 1 joke too early by mistake?

Supposedly they insist on it not being a joke. But Voltswaken, honstely if that isn't a joke it's sad. It is basically guaranteed to be a typo crisis. I can just say have fun, to all the banks and other companies doing business with it.

They're now saying that it was in fact a joke.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#397

Post by interestica » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:54 PM UTC

dghughes wrote: post #372

kbos87 wrote: post #179

I previously owned a VW, but swore on my life that I'd never buy another one after the emissions cheating scandal. There are plenty of reasons why a VW likely wont be my next choice, but I'm softening my stance a bit. What they did was absolutely reprehensible, but I later learned that the more accurate story is that they bore the brunt of media attention for something that nearly every auto manufacturer was later fo…

>...they bore the brunt of media attention for something that nearly every auto manufacturer was later found to be doing... Car manufacturers any company really tries to get away with whatever they can until until caught. Here in Canada the latest news is Honda vehicles without any heat. People are driving in -20C or lower with no heater. It's the terribly outdated laws we have in Canada some laws haven't been update…

> Here in Canada we get "Hey your engine's gonna blow. Sorry"

It seems that there isn't even the 'sorry' part. I wonder what the design is like: generic light? icon? a "do not check engine" light?

Re: Voltswagen of America

#398

Post by Rebelgecko » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:55 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #302

kbos87 wrote: post #179

I previously owned a VW, but swore on my life that I'd never buy another one after the emissions cheating scandal. There are plenty of reasons why a VW likely wont be my next choice, but I'm softening my stance a bit. What they did was absolutely reprehensible, but I later learned that the more accurate story is that they bore the brunt of media attention for something that nearly every auto manufacturer was later fo…

Other manufacturers were exposing monkeys to diesel emissions? Gassing primates is a pretty bad look for any company, especially VW.

Doesn't every car manufacturer (except maybe Tesla) expose primates (humans) to vehicle emissions?

Re: Voltswagen of America

#399

Post by iso1631 » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #331

soperj wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and what about the ones at literally every other company that produces diesels?

How about 'rolling coal'?

Never heard of this before, I looked it up, but I still don't get it -- you're not getting more power, you're not getting better fuel efficiency, you're not getting a smoother ride, what's the point - you're literally burning money for no reason?

Re: Voltswagen of America

#400

Post by nethunters » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 5:57 PM UTC

leetcrew wrote: post #108

globular-toast wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name a German brand that isn't expensive and difficult to maintain. German car manufacturers have the strongest marketing departments in the world and people will swear blind that their vehicle is reliable and costs nothing to maintain. It's incredibly difficult to get car owners to be honest about how much it really costs them and how reliable their vehicle really is. Another problem is people don't know any better.…

you also have to ask "reliable compared to what?". my first car was a golf tdi. the only maintenance cost was the annual service. it never got close to 100k miles though because vw had to buy it back from me in the dieselgate settlement. statistically, I'm sure a toyota corolla is a much more reliable car, and I would have replaced it with one if that's all I cared about. but I've driven a few of those, and golfs are…

Which Corolla did you drive as the new ones are pretty performant? I've got the 2 litre hybrid with 200nm torque from each engine and a combined bhp of 186 (could be ~305bhp and 400nm of torque if remapped as it has a 2 litre 200bhp petrol engine with 200nm of torque and a 105bhp electric engine with 195nm of torque but you'll lose linear acceleration and the fuel efficiency that Toyota equipped it with) with good mpg, MacPherson suspension at the front, and multi linked individual suspension at the back, lower centre of gravity and 52.5:47.5 weight distribution for better cornering (and cornering assist). All in all a nice car that is pretty performant and has good features.