Volkswagen is one of the world’s most successful automakers, but it seems its geography isn’t always up to scratch.
The German carmaker was forced to apologize after it left Romania off its European map of electric cars during a company presentation this week.
Romania wasn’t the only country missing from the presentation during the annual conference on Monday; Norway and Iceland were also omitted.
Electric mobility plan
The company apologized on Wednesday on its Facebook page.
„It simply came to our notice then. Romania is, of course, an important part of Volkswagen’s entire electric mobility plan in Europe and should have appeared on the map during Power Day, „the carmaker said about its error during the Power Day Conference on March 15.
The map has subsequently been updated.
„Any electric vehicle in Romania can be charged at its 46 own MOON charging points and, in the near future, at the 269 public charging points Renovatio, our partners for electric mobility, through the We Charge application,” the post added.
Sales up
The sale of electric cars and hybrid cars rose by about one-fifth in the first 11 months of last year in Romania, even as car sales overall tumbled by one fourth hit by the effects of the pandemic and stricter vehicle emission laws.
Romanians bought 7,345 units from January to November. Overall, 6.7% of all cars purchased in Romania were electric or hybrid, Profit.ro reported.
Electric
Volkswagen’s shares surged more than 9% on Tuesday, lifting its market value towards $150 billion as the world’s second-largest carmaker gave more details about its ambitious expansion in electric driving.
A day after unveiling plans to build half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe, the German company said it aimed to more than double deliveries of electric vehicles this year.
At its annual press conference, it also reiterated its confidence that cost cuts would help to raise profit margins in the coming years.
“Our good performance in 2020, a year dominated by crisis, will give us momentum for accelerating our transformation,” Chief Executive Herbert Diess said in a statement.
Volkswagen, which last year delivered 422,100 electric vehicles, also said it would apply a standardized platform model, introduced for vehicle production years ago, for software, batteries and charging. The group has approximately 670,000 employees globally.
