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Voltswagen of America

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Re: Voltswagen of America

#451

Post by simondw »

titzer wrote: post #390
sillyquiet wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'bother' me? No, not at all, the sounds are close enough I get the meaning, mostly from context. I am not sure why there should be an emotional factor here, as expecting everybody to conform to some pronunciation ideal they have no experience with is arrogant, to say the least.

Well you claimed that Americans are pronouncing it "perfectly correctly," and Germans might disagree. It's a German word which has been Americanized. The company mostly doesn't care, but there is a single correct pronunciation in their native language. Insisting you are correct mispronouncing a foreign word because the letters look a certain way is just hubris.

> there is a single correct pronunciation in their native language

But see, that's the point. We're not speaking German when we use a borrowed word in English. It's no longer a purely German word, despite its origins, just as "xylophone" isn't a mispronounced Greek word, nor "Handy" a misused and miscapitalized English word.

That's not hubris, it's just descriptivism.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#452

Post by burlesona »

I don't know if anyone else took like 3 paragraphs to realize this, but point is Volkswagen is is changing their name to Voltswagen -- as in VOLTS wagon - as in electricity.

I hate to admit this but I somehow couldn't see the change until I got to this quote:

“We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren't changing is this brand’s commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere,” said Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Voltswagen of America.

Also, apparently not an early April Fool's joke: they confirmed the name change to Car and Driver: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35970854/vw-name-change-v...

Re: Voltswagen of America

#453

Post by henrikschroder »

minxomat wrote: post #25
MattGaiser wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mistake? Look at all the coverage they are getting when they would otherwise be lost in a crowd.

Maybe they grew tired of Americans pronouncing it wrong (most V are still pronounced as F, Vettel, Volkswagen etc.) ;-) Edit: This German apologizes for an attempt at a humorous / sarcastic comment and will revert to work-machine state at once. Beep boop.

Btw, how do Germans generally pronounce "volt"? Folt? 230 fau? Or is it like wolt and we?

Does the name change still make sense in German?

Re: Voltswagen of America

#454

Post by croes »

melvinram wrote: post #418

Imagine telling someone in 2003 that this was going to happen. It would have been seen as a joke (as some are seeing it today) or something that absolutely wouldn't happen. If this is not a joke, this seems like the best indicator that Tesla is meeting it's mission to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy." Tip of the hat to Elon.

It's more like Volkswagen's attempt to get rid of the bad PR from the emission cheat scandal. Without that electronic cars wouldn't be on VW's agenda.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#455

Post by colinmhayes »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #373
gaoshan wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I have seen VW had a sort of genuine reckoning with the whole diesel issue. They have reinvented themselves, shed cruft, cut all fuel vehicle development and completely devoted themselves to an electric future (vehicles, batteries, chargers). They have turned things around wholesale and are now producing amazing, relatively affordable electric vehicles (their new id.4 SUV will debut in the US for just a lit…

So can I now go into a VW / Audi dealer in North America and buy an EV off a lot? Because every time I look (and I've looked constantly since I traded my Jetta TDI for cash in dieselgate) I still can't. And they are issuing a new press release every few months promising mass production EVs next year. Back in 2017/2018 when this all went down they actually removed all electrified cars from their lineup. Stopped making…

My Audi dealer has the e-tron.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#456

Post by kbenson »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #383
kbenson wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the prisoner's dilemma variant here is the iterated one, and there are more than two players. The assumption there is that you're all guilty. I agree, when you're all cheating, it's hard to safely get to a point you're not cheating and can inform on others, but the solution to that is simple, don't cheat in the first place. An actual rational actor would realize that cheating opens you up to this situation where yo…

I do think that these things are all mostly emergent - a competitor sacrifices a principle a little bit to get ahead, everyone else follows suit, thus enshrining it as a new normal. Rinse, repeat That said, I disagree with "the solution to that is simple, don't cheat in the first place", for the reasons I mentioned: if all your competitors suddenly start to cheat, telling on them only works if you can ensure they all…

> telling on them only works if you can ensure they all get burned down to the ground as a result.

Isn't that assuming you have to out yourself to identify others? That seems like something a company could coordinate well such that there was little or no indication of where it came from (a source identifying one or two bad actors and calling for industry wide testing would serve their interests without specifically outing them). And I'm not sure why they need to get burned down to the ground. It's about removing the advantages they've gained through cheating, and possibly applying a social penalty if it was bad enough, not ensuring they are destroyed.

> If some survive, you'll now be competing with them as an actor nobody trusts, and nobody wants to deal with.

Eh, even if it did come out that your company was responsible for outing others, this is business where past behavior has less sway, and knowing the other party will follow the rules is hardly a disqualifying factor as long as you don't do something with them that isn't following the rules. It's not like competitors are commonly giving ammunition to each other with the understanding it won't be used. And if they aren't working with you because they can't without exposing more cheating... well then that's a problem they should be trying to fix already, given the new realities.

I think in any well functioning market this all works out normally. The automotive market doesn't seem to be a well functioning one though.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#457

Post by matsemann »

ralmidani wrote: post #304
unethical_ban wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish Subaru didn't go all-in on touch for critical controls like climate and radio. It may be the #1 reason I don't look to them for my next vehicle.

I used to say I would never buy a phone without a physical keyboard. My last phone with a physical keyboard was the original Moto Droid, which I lost in 2012.

A touch interface in a car is nice for reaching all kinds of weird settings and hopefully make good ux for maps and stuff. But for direct control it sucks. The car I'm driving now I have no way to adjust the AC without multiple screen touches (switch to AC screen, wait, click the small - button multiple times to decrease temperature, click + button multiple times to increase fan speed).

I'm all for nice touch screens, just keep some knobs as well.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#458

Post by ak217 »

Syonyk wrote: post #407
ak217 wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to live next to a freeway and I know the true cost of dirty diesel engines. Get on any US freeway and you'll notice that while a majority of diesels are fine, there is a minority that is belching soot any time the driver steps on the gas. This is simply unacceptable - this tiny minority of diesels kills people over time - especially the poorer populations who live close to the freeways. I would prefer much mor…

The pointless out of band emissions testing of an emissions compliant truck (that easily passes the tests) having to go in for a test because it smokes a bit under hard acceleration and someone called it in for "rolling coal" is very much a nuisance to the truck owner and a waste of time/resources for all parties involved. An older diesel engine can smoke a decent bit under hard acceleration and still be entirely emi…

My stance is that diesels should only be permitted if they satisfy the EPA 2008 diesel PM standards or better. No older engines should be permitted unless they are retrofitted to comply with the standard and pass regular state tests. We could have a "cash for clunkers" type program to incentivize them to be lawfully scrapped.

I appreciate that you are as annoyed as the rest of us at the coal rollers. I think we need much more aggressive fines and impounds for those, too.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#459

Post by methodin »

amenod wrote: post #366
kbenson wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More recently, he has been released on parole after roughly half his term served.[1] Interestingly, the article says: In Germany, inmates can be released after serving two thirds of their term. Parole after only half of the time is rare, but can be granted to first time offenders who demonstrated good behavior and are deemed unlikely to commit crimes in the future. I don't doubt he exhibited good behavior. I'm not su…

It is still quite likely he won't be repeating the mistake though. Prison is something else than just money.

Is the rest of the world as harsh as the U.S. in that a prison sentence is basically the end of your career? Would this guy have a shot at being an executive again?

Re: Voltswagen of America

#460

Post by inson »

Getting VW Jetta was the worst decision I've ever made, new or old doesn't matter because all of them have countless problem. Add to that emission scandal... Yeah, I won't exchange my old honda civic even for new VW because Japanese cars are affordable and reliable.
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