VW removes a page from Musk’s Twitter account

It was a joke of April Apple that was broken. In an embarrassing apology, Volkswagen was forced to confirm by the end of March that the United States’s resumption of “Voltswagen” to achieve a global power future was difficult.

However, the disruptive announcement, which led to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to approve the group’s shareholding in the US, was in line with a communication strategy set up at the German automakers’ headquarters.

Last summer, VW chief executive Herbert Diess told co-workers that he wanted to talk more online. He found that the group, which spends more than $ 35 billion on electronics, needed to rekindle the interest of Elon Musk’s fans, according to people close to senior officials.

“Maybe we need a bigger risk,” is how one experienced expert described the method, which prompted Diess to go to LinkedIn and then Twitter with a very controversial post.

Diess is also working in China’s Weibo, where he is taking on Tesla’s founder – who has been using social media for many years to establish himself and his company – in terms of followers.

VW launched its first electric car, ID.3, last year, and sold about 232,000 battery-powered cars by 2020, becoming the largest electric car company in Europe at the time. By the end of the decade, it wants 70% of its trade in Europe to be gas-free.

However, the German company is worth less than a third of Tesla, which is building a factory 150 miles from VW Group in Wolfsburg.

In a strange turn for the German strong team, Diess made a number of difficulties for VW to identify.

The Bavarian wore a Batman mask while showing off one of the group’s cars in a LinkedIn post, asked for a selfie with Musk when he visited VW to test his ID. And after joining Twitter earlier in the year, he mocked Tesla Executive, who had tried to find Diess when he was BMW’s manager.

VW’s bosses also spoke to climate change politicians and politicians, the best ways to get carbon offsets.

The value of this method is confirmed by the weekly press conference, headed by Diess and can last for two hours, said one person. Previous analytics has been updated and what could be “problematic” in the days to come will be explained.

Some say that this approach has made VW more popular.

“Diess was cared for, because [Daimler boss Ola] Kallenius and [BMW’s Oliver] The ripens are not going there, “said Michael Muders, a history manager at Union Investment, one of the key players in VW.

“You need a lot of money to know this change,” he added. “This is part of the game.”

Central to this plan is the ability to attract the attention of US financial regulators, who focus on VW’s competitors. To achieve this goal, VW recently started importing after three months in English.

“After Dieselgate there was no interest from American women,” said a man who was close to VW’s governing body. More than half of Diess’s Twitter followers are from the United States, she added.

With GM and Ford writing headlines to name the days when they will stop selling fire trucks, VW is trying to make sure it has limits to its competitors, such as dedicated electric platforms, one of its licenses for Ford.

This technology “allows VW to lead its peers”, says Daniel Schwarz, a researcher at Stifel. “We now have a European Green Deal and the VW approach seems to be very reliable.”

Along with other events, such as “Power Day” focused on battery technology designed to make noise online, VW’s vulnerabilities on the internet were matched by the growing popularity of the manufacturer.

For a short time at the end of the spring, the virus maker re-crowned the most important company in Germany, although there has been no significant change in its pre-existing mechanics, and has almost reclaimed the ground since the 2015 diesel disaster.

All of a sudden, it’s not clear how much Diess’s tweets work.

Although VW shares have doubled since they turned 10 in March last year, Daimler’s assets have tripled at the same time, although their Swedish boss is not on Twitter.

“I use LinkedIn, because we have found it to be an excellent tool for attracting talent to our company,” Kallenius told the Financial Times, “and I’m following this up now.”

If the regional trend – slightly boosted by the increase in traffic demand – continues, German car manufacturers need to do more than just send hashtags.

“Simple money in the market may have been made,” said the Union’s Muders. “The question is whether there is an electric car on either side. This is what the market will sell. ”