Beware Tesla, Volkswagen is not joking
This week, the SEC announced that Volkswagen is being investigated over its “Voltswagen” April Fools debacle. So what happened? Voltswagen was the actual new name (for about 24 hours) that automotive giant announced for their US subsidiary on March 31st, in a bid to promote the company's renewed focus on electric vehicles and its new all-electric SUV. Initially leaked as an upcoming April Fools joke, the name change was later confirmed on official VW corporate channels, before company spokesman Mark Gillies said on Tuesday that the statement was indeed an early April Fool’s Day joke. For a company found guilty of lying in a big way about emissions (Dieselgate), this was a high-risk gag with poor delivery. Joke or not, VW is very serious about its ambitions for electric vehicles. Last year, between the company's 12+ brands the group delivered around 230,000 all-electric vehicles. That might only be around 2% of Volkswagen Group's total vehicle deliveries, but it is already a...