Volkswagen and Electrify America Launch New EV Ads Featuring a Chevy Bolt
The commercial hopes to be brand neutral while still saying ‘EVs are cool.’
Part of Volkswagen's “Dieselgate” penance was to help increase the awareness of vehicles which utilize alternative fuels, and with the help of Electrify America, the automaker has been doing just that. Recently, VW helped to fund a commercial to promote electrified vehicles with an unexpected vendor-neutral approach.
The commercial, aptly called the "Jetstones" features two men—one in a second generation Subaru Outback, the second in a new Chevy bolt. The Subaru owner pulls up to a stop light after a steam whistle blares in the distance. The theme song from The Flintstones plays, but only briefly. You see, at the stop light, our friend comes in contact with the one and only George Jetson, except instead of a flying spaceship, he's driving a color-matched Chevy Bolt with his dog, “Elroy,” riding shotgun.
Comparisons aside, the ad is clearly pushing the modern and fun approach that electric cars have on the world. The Bolt ditches the "Tree Hugger" sticker present on the Outback's rear bumper and the "hippie" look of the driver, showing the same actor freshly groomed and neatly dressed, presumably to be a visual metaphor for "out with the old, in with the new." The Bolt shoots off from the light and the announcer begins to talk about how fun electric cars are to drive thanks to their "instant acceleration".
What might seem like a good deed is actually the result of Volkswagen's dirty diesel mishap, affectionately named Dieselgate by the masses. The court-ordered movement requires the automaker to promote alternative fuels while being vendor agnostic, something it achieves by showing a BMW i3, Chevy Bolt, Honda Clarity, Nissan Leaf, and, of course, the Volkswagen e-Golf.
"Electric cars are not something of the future," wrote Electrify America's Senior Director, Richard Steinberg, in a statement. "They are here now and more accessible than many people know."
Electrify America is also working to grow its own national charging network for electric vehicles, something which may some day take on the likes of current industry leader, Tesla.
