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Volkswagen takes a swipe at Subaru drivers in new ID.4 commercial

Volkswagen has delivered a playful dig at Subaru in a new ad for its ID.4 electric SUV by subtly implying that Subaru owners may not be so deserving of their 'green' image.


The ad, currently airing in North America, features a family that's recently purchased an ID.4, and follows each family member as they detail how their lives have changed for the better since owning the car.

In one scene, in an effort to highlight the ID.4's silent powertrain, the family drives past a wild bear that is seemingly unbothered by their presence.

The mother then says to the camera: "Before, we couldn't take in the sweet sounds of nature."

However, immediately after she delivers the line, a Subaru Outback roars past, wearing stickers that read "I love nature!", "Peace" and bearing several recycling symbols.

"Seriously?" the mother in the ad says to the camera, as the bear growls after being disrupted by the Outback's noisy presence.

The clip appears to be a dig at the hypocrisy of car owners who purport to love nature and yet continue to drive noisy, polluting internal combustion-engined vehicles. Subaru is yet to respond to the ad.

While the Japanese-owned Subaru brand is yet to offer a fully-electric production version of any of its cars, it has a brand image that's heavily intertwined with the great outdoors, with model names such as 'Outback' and 'Forester' and a recently-launched 'Wilderness' sub-brand.

In early 2020, Subaru committed to applying electrification technologies to all its vehicles globally by the first half of the 2030s. Part of this plan includes the launch of its first all-electric car – a crossover SUV that's being co-developed with Toyota.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen's brand image is still recovering from the ongoing 'Dieselgate' saga that commenced in 2015, in which the company was found to be cheating emissions assessments on its diesel cars.

In recent months, the Volkswagen Group has committed to selling 26 million pure-electric vehicles across its portfolio of brands (Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti) by 2029 and launched a 'Mission T' plan to compete with Tesla.

Along with the ID.3 and ID.4 already sold overseas, the ID.4 GTX, ID.5, and ID.6 are all expected to launch overseas later this year.

While the ID.4 has launched internationally, local plans for the model's Australian rollout are yet to be confirmed.

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Susannah Guthrie

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist for over a decade, covering everything from world news to fashion, entertainment, health and now cars. Having previously worked across titles like The New Daily, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, People Magazine and Cosmopolitan, Susannah now relishes testing family cars with the help of her husband and two-year-old son.

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