It’s the big blur following the sprint. A few months ago, in Volfsburg, home of Volkswagen, the real boss was called Elon Musk. Car Herbert Diessthe CEO of the group only had eyes for the American billionaire and the success of his brand: Tesla. According to Diess, obsessed with his guru, it was necessary to go for it, and rather very quickly, to completely switch to electric. He has since gone and his replacement, Oliver Blume is far from nurturing the same love for the troublemaker of the States, his escapades and his electric cars.
The one who was the boss of Porsche before taking over the management of the group (while remaining the CEO of the sports brand) obviously does not intend to question the electrification undertaken. When we have put nearly 70 billion on the table to get out of thermals, we are somewhat hesitant to disengage. But he intends to calm things down. Starting, 100 days following taking office, by freezing a few projects, in particular that of the Landjet, Audi’s future top-of-the-range and that of the new electric platform SSP.
So we calm down, and we consolidate what already exists before moving on. This is how one of the projects that Blume wants to tackle is the software, the very ones that weighed down the launch of theID3 and somewhat tarnished VW’s quality image. The electric yes, but when we are ready, seems to explain Blume to its shareholders, telling them “that the foundations of the house are good, but that the cellar must be emptied and the roof revised”. A mason’s metaphor to explain that the runaway for watts is over, or rather, postponed. For him, the urgency, beyond software, is to catch up with the eternal enemy, Toyotaand not to let yourself be taken up by the other, more recent enemy: Stellar.
The top three global manufacturers are cautious
In this fight to stay on the world automotive podium, and possibly clinch the top spot, Blume knows full well that he is not alone in displaying Sioux caution when it comes to electric cars. We know the reluctance of Carlos Tavares, the boss of Stellantis, in this area, and the delay, voluntary or not, of Toyota in this area. Delay which does not prevent the Japanese from remaining at the top, which has not escaped the boss of VW.
It did not escape him either than the news Toyota Prius which has just been presented, and which will be available next spring, does not have a 100% electric version. How ? While everyone is rocking into a world of watts, the brand’s most emblematic car, the one that invented hybridization in 1997, snubs zero emissions to settle for a plug-in hybrid version? But what a mistake, the pseudo experts seem to say. An error that does not prevent the Japanese from being world number one. Toyota has nevertheless yielded to the sirens of the electricity fairy, but between the postponed launch and a not terrible autonomy of its BZ4X, he is now playing it safe. Like Volkswagen, which experienced the same type of disappointment with its ID3.
In Germany, as in Japan, are we becoming reasonable and saying to ourselves that we have rushed a little too much? In any case, as is the case for the autonomous car, the electric car seems to have, not lead in the wing, but an ignition delay. This desire to calm things down on the part of the big automakers is also reinforced by the reluctance of French and Italian politicians who seem to accept the switch, but reluctantly.
As a result, for the past few months, manufacturers have only had two expressions in mind: “review clause” et “moratorium”. Two expressions that they wish to come true. The “review clause” is nothing other than a re-examination, in 2026, of the text voted on last June and some would like it to lead to a “moratorium”. The latter makes it possible to freeze the application of a text and to postpone it. In politics, it is often a way soft to abandon a measure, a decision so as not to harm anyone Will we get there in four years? Nobody has the faintest idea, but when a large part of the politicians and the industrialists are in agreement, and the consumers are too, there is little opposition not to reach an agreement.
