Yesterday, I saw for the first time a tv commercial for a Volkswagen electric car in a Portuguese tv channel. I was already accustomed to Nissan, Renault and BMW advertising their electric cars in Portuguese television, but not Volkswagen. I was shocked…
Fun aside, seeing some sort of effort by Volkswagen in promoting electric cars – instead of releasing endless press releases about the future of electric mobility for 2020 and later -, is very satisfying and the commercial made me smile.
The commercial is very simple and tries – in a funny manner – to assure potential buyers that range is no longer a problem for electric cars. Without further ado here it is the English version by Volkswagen Ireland.
I remember that last year in Europe, the plug-in hybrid Volkswagen Golf GTE was much more successful than the full electric e-Golf and sold almost twice as much. According to EV Sales, last year in Europe, Volkswagen sold 11.329 units of the Golf GTE, while only 6.657 units of the e-Golf.
I’m confident that this year the story will be much different. The 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf not only was upgraded with more range, now it also has a more powerful motor, enough to make it more pleasing to drive than the GTE, at least it’s what Mat Watson from carwow believes.
As the BMW i3 proved us before – with the introduction of the 94 Ah battery -, as the range of the electric versions increases, the appealing of the plug-in hybrid/range extended versions decreases. Especially since the electric versions are much simpler to build than hybrid, thus cheaper to buy and maintain.
Yet, I’m certain that the new e-Golf doesn’t have even more range only to not outshine – even more – Volkswagen plug-in hybrids, since this is the technology that was chosen years ago by the German automaker to replace diesel. According to Volkswagen, full electric cars will only take off in 2020…
To sum up, the newly improved Volkswagen e-Golf is a small, yet firm step forward that I wish it was bigger. I always cheer for more and better electric superminis, since I consider this is the segment that will make electric cars mainstream in Europe. Nevertheless, it will definitely be a hit in Norway for sure, more than the Opel Ampera-e (I believe).
What do you think about this electric supermini made by Volkswagen? Is this the electric supermini that Europeans will buy? Or the longer range, yet simpler and more affordable Renault Zoe will continue to be the undisputed leader in this segment?!
