As environmental regulations become more stringent, automakers are feeling the pressure, which has led them to take actions that are conflicting with the characters of well-known brands. VW is one such example with premature deliveries of ID.3 vehicles, but the experience was not pleasant.
Rather, it was so embarrassing that a former VW Denmark director was quoted as saying that the company had never been so plagued by errors on its first shipment.
What Exactly Happened?
This begs the question, what exactly happened to force a reputable brand to make such an unexpected move? Here’s what caused the disaster.
Change In EU Climate Requirements
The global increased awareness and drive to reduce pollution also had an impact on the European Union, which imposed rigorous rules and regulations, and VW, a brand that had previously been involved in an emissions scam, was thus forced to sell a plethora of electric vehicles. But, to make matters worse, all of these EVs had to be delivered in 2020.
The EU climate requirements fixed the average amount of CO2 emitted by a vehicle, so VW, like many other automakers, decided to offer a large number of EVs to reduce the average.
VW Saved Billions Of Dollars In Fines
The fines would have been in the billions of dollars, and the group’s overall reputation would have been tarnished. As a result, VW took the easy way and delivered vehicles that, in some cases, had not yet passed pre-delivery inspections.
According to one report, the Volkswagen Group saved nearly €18,743 (£15,911) in fines for each electric vehicle sold in 2020.
Because of these huge numbers, the VW group was forced to deliver even cars that were not fully road-ready, and the implications were far-reaching.
Problems With Prematurely Delivered Cars
As a result of the premature deliveries, the cars had several issues. For many cars, especially electric, many issues can be resolved by just upgrading the system OS.
The ID.3 vehicles, on the other hand, had serious issues. Some of the problems reported by owners of such vehicles included but were not limited to, the inability to start the vehicles, the car not accepting the key, the car’s refusal to accept gears changes, and several error codes.
Disgruntled Customers
ID.3 was supposed to be a glimmer of hope for the VW group’s loyal customers who had been hoping for a car that would not only be a vehicle of the future but would also aid in saving the environment.
However, neither was the ID.3 delivered on time nor was it up to the customer’s expectations. This made a lot of customers extremely agitated.
Many customers that paid thousands of dollars for their ID.3 vehicles blame the company for not standing up to their expectations.
Some customers went so far as to count the number of times their car had a problem within 14 days, and to our surprise, such customers claim that the car was problematic for all days but one.
Many customers stated that they expected a few problems in the initial version of the car.
However, they were likely to be trivial problems that could be resolved with software updates, but, the quality of delivered vehicles has been appalling.
Final Verdict
While hundreds of ID.3 vehicles will be recalled to address the issues, VW’s overall brand reputation has been permanently tarnished, at least in the minds of customers who paid thousands of dollars for vehicles that performed poorly.
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