Volkswagen leadership vows to repair credibility

Volkswagen is considering altering its slogan of "Das Auto" in its plans to expand its focus on customer experience. [Photo/China Daily]

Volkswagen's top leadership is seeking a way out for the embattled automaker with repeated apologies over its emissions scandal and a new strategy that focuses on customer experience.

"I would like to apologize once again for what went wrong for Volkswagen. Our most important task in 2016 is to win back trust. It is not only our cars we have to fix, we know we have to repair our credibility, too," said Volkswagen AG CEO Matthias Mller.

"Of course words aren't enough. To bring effective solutions for customers worldwide, we are getting to the bottom of how this could have happened and we will learn from it."

Mller made the remarks in Detroit, Michigan, one day before the North American International Auto Show kicked off on Jan 11. Volkswagen's emissions scandal involved at least 11 million cars around the world.

The carmaker said affected cars outside the United States would be fixed in the first half of 2016 while work would start in the United States after Volkswagen reaches agreements over redemptive measures with local regulators.

Mller said the car giant is realigning to build a "new Volkswagen" in terms of its architecture, strategy and corporate culture, adding the revamp plan will be released this summer.

End of 'Das Auto'

One harbinger of Volkswagen's change might be the recent disappearance in its advertisements of the slogan Das Auto, which means "the car" and was launched in 2007 under former CEO Martin Winterkorn.

Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, said the automaker is reconsidering the slogan as Volkswagen expands its focus to cover not only products but also customer experience.

"'Das Auto' is a valuable slogan for Volkswagen as it focuses on the entire team and the goal is to make the best car. But we have to see that the future will be much more about customer experience. It won't be only the hard way, the car, but also the service: How you deal with customers before and after the purchase."

Diess said Volkswagen is also looking harder at connectivity and electrification, innovating its way of developing and producing cars as well as making the automaker more efficient.

One week ahead of the Detroit auto show, the automaker displayed some of its latest achievements in autonomous driving, long-distance electric cars and the Internet of Things at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The automaker said it will launch another 20 electric cars and plug-in hybrids by 2020. Diess said its electrification technology will be introduced into its two joint ventures in China - FAW Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen - and many products exclusively designed for the Chinese market would be introduced in coming years.

VWs Chinese strategy

China has been Volkswagen's largest market since 2009. About 3.55 million of the automaker's 9.93 million new cars in 2015 were sold in China.

"We take China very seriously. It is not only because of the market scale or the sales volume but also because of the technology. China will probably be the leading market worldwide for electric cars," said Diess.

New-energy vehicles are gaining momentum in China as a result of the country's determination to curb air pollution and its ambition to build a stronger auto industry.

It would be a correct move for Volkswagen to brace itself with lineups of those cars, but it is losing ground to other international brands in the Chinese market.

Statistics show that the automaker GM topped the list of automakers with sales of 3.61 million deliveries in 2015. Volkswagen was the champion in 2013 and 2014.

While Volkswagen blamed its performance on a lack of SUV models in its portfolio in China, it introduced plans to roll out 10 SUVs in three years, though industry experts argued its tainted image as a result of the emissions scandal is currently hurting the German brand's sales.

Diess said the company has suffered from the scandal but that he is confident that Volkswagen can regain trust in China.

"Luckily in China there are not too many cars, only a few thousand cars, involved. I think we will fix them by the middle of the year and that is the most important thing.

"We lost a lot of credibility as a company and a lot of trust in the company. It will take time to recover and the only way to recover is to be open and honest, fix the problem, make sure the problem will never happen again and deliver on the promises.

"I am sure if we fix the things we can regain the trust but I fully agree it will take time. We have to improve, improve and improve," said Diess.