Meanwhile, VW is in freefall. Things are so dire that it will cut by half the number of models it sells and reduce the options available with the remaining half by 75 percent. VW's CEO, Oliver Blume, says the situation (per Hirohito's observation in late 1945 about the war situation) "has continued to deteriorate over the past twelve months."

"We must fundamentally realign our business model and achieve structural, sustainable improvements," added Arno Antlitz, VW group's chief financial officer. "This includes improving the cost structure of our vehicles without compromising product substance, significantly reducing overhead costs, increasing the efficiency of our plants and accelerating technology development and decision-making."

Italics added.

It was "technology development" – the bums rush to "electrify" as much of what it made as possible as quickly as possible – that has led to these devastating losses because people aren't buying battery-powered VWs like the ID Buzz, which was styled to remind people of the minibus VW used to sell a lot of back in the '60s and '70s. The Buzz mostly sat. It was so bad that VW stopped trying to sell them altogether this year (there is no 2026 model) but nevertheless will try again come 2027. Coke had the sense to stop trying to sell New Coke but that bad decision was not a political decision. It was therefore easier to make a different decision once it became clear New Coke wasn't selling.

The political "decision-making" that got VW in to trouble was deciding to cave in to the fomented hysteria over the "cheating" that was uncovered – after searching for it that would have done Inspector Javert proud – about a decade ago. You have no doubt heard something about this, probably not the truth. What you probably heard was that VW was caught. Dr. Evil-style, programming its TDI-powered cars to "emit" more than the allowed amount and to hide this dastardly deed from the government. This is technically true, in the same way that it is technically true that "speeding" means driving even half-a-mile-per-hour faster than the law says you may. The "cheating" was so trivial in terms of the actual emissions that it took specialized equipment to detect it – in a lab. The difference wasn't detectable by the tailpipe sniffer tests used in states that require vehicles to exhaust emissions tests. It was an angels dancing on the head of a pin difference; the kind of thing that obsesses pedants but that meant nothing insofar as whether VW's TDI-powered vehicles meaningfully fouled the air. They just ran a little better when you floored the accelerator pedal.

It did not matter.

What mattered was that VW's TDI diesels were selling very well – understandably, since they were inexpensive (you could have bought a TDI-powered Jetta for about $22k) and very efficient (50-plus MPG) and very long-legged (driving range of 700 miles on a full tank). All the things electric vehicles are not, in other words. Note that the "cheating" thing broke – as if on cue – at right around the same time that the EV push began.

That is why VW's TDI diesels had to go – and so an excuse was found to make them gone. The excuse was the "cheating" – but even more so, it was the hyperventilating, pearl-clutching hysteria over it that caused VW to writhe like a snail that got salted. It was a sort-of preview of the COVID hysteria and just as manufactured.