VW About to Unleash the Electric Dogs

Volkswagen already has made some aggressive moves with electric vehicles, showing dramatic concepts that hint at near-future models. Originally, it was forced into the EV market by governments for its diesel misdeeds. But it seems VW now realizes there’s a potential to be on the forefront of the industry.

Bloomberg reported that Volkswagen is looking to switch over a few factories in Europe to making just electric vehicles. These facilities have higher costs and strong labor unions, so keeping the workload high would be critical for VW.

If Volkswagen is weighing such a plan, it must think the demand for electric cars is strong in Europe, as well as abroad. Executives have said a few times now that they believe they can produce EVs that are competitive with Teslas, but at half the price. Considering these plants in Europe could whip out hundreds of thousands of vehicles each year, that economy of scale could make it possible.

Meanwhile, there’s talk of VW and Ford joining forces, which could open up more manufacturing capacity for the German automaker in the U.S. There’s even talk of a Volkswagen pickup being made stateside, but for now that’s just speculation.