Musk: Volkswagen's 'Trickery' May Have Been Only Option

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Speaking to Auto Express ahead of Tesla’s first European factory opening, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said internal combustion engines have hit their physical limit for efficiency and that Volkswagen engineers may have resorted to lying out of necessity.

“There must have been lots of VW engineers under pressure — they’ve run into a physical wall of what might be possible so trickery was the only option,” he told the publication.

Musk told the group that VW’s salvation may only be in leading the charge (literally and figuratively) toward electric vehicles.

“All car companies will go electric eventually,” he said, according to Auto Express. “Any car company that doesn’t go electric will be out of business.”

Volkswagen currently sells its e-Golf in California and 10 other markets.

Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • PentastarPride PentastarPride on Sep 29, 2015

    Now even though I would never see myself owning anything Volkswagen produces, I don't see the big deal. Correct me if I'm wrong: the current fuel consumption of TDI Volkswagens is better with the hack that VW implemented on their cars. It just isn't clean as the EPA wants it to be. Well, I'm not too concerned, because it's not like everyone drives a TDI Volkswagen (or a diesel anything, for that matter). The immature nineteen-year-olds with the 'macho' PowerStrokes rigged to pour out black smoke on purpose is more of a concern--even then, the Feds shouldn't become involved, the local police can and do take care of those idiots. Once VW rolls out the fix, it is my understanding that MPG will decrease. If I was an owner of a TDI Volkswagen, I wouldn't feel outraged. I would feel thankful that I'm saving a few $ and wouldn't take my car in to get this eventual fix.

  • George B George B on Sep 30, 2015

    Musk is wrong. Volkswagen sold a lie, "clean diesel" without urea injection, because it was cheaper than developing Diesel engines for US pollution standards. Hard to put a Diesel engine in a cheap car in the US and make money.

  • Brock_Landers Brock_Landers on Sep 30, 2015

    This statement from Musk is total BS. He is expanding diesel problems to all internal combustion engines. Everybody in the Automotive world knows he's full of it. But his audience is different. Tech savvy millenials who can't afford Tesla and dream about it and rich generation x-ers who have made their fortunes in tech business (Tesla owners). He is a marketing genius foremost. Tesla's market penetration is only limited to fanboys with the background mentioned before. Model S costs high end 5-series money but their interior quality is comparable to Chrysler 200. Everybody knows it, not everybody admits it. Electric car is not for everybody. The price level of Model S is so high that 95% of the potential customers expect very high mobility form their cars. If they need to take a unexpected business trip 500 miles away or drive around town between business meetings etc the whole day then they cannot be bothered with thoughts about battery range. If the gas tank is empty then they can refill it in 3 minutes and continue with their errands. That is the expectation this kind of customer has. They are not going to make any compromises in their life only because Tesla is a cool car or Elon Musk is a cool guy.

  • Calgarytek Calgarytek on Sep 30, 2015

    I beg to differ with Musk. We may have explored the limits of efficiency of ICE when it comes to the quality and formulation of the fuel we currently burn. Let's not forget that there are fuels such as propane (works in both spark ignition and compression ignition engines) and DME. Both fuels are known for burning much more 'cleanly' then current fuels. I've always wondered how well DME would burn in one of them 'TDI' engines.

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