Volkswagen wants to reinvent itself.
During the company's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, Volkswagen passenger cars chairman Dr. Herbert Diess revealed what he called the new Volkswagen.
The brand is pivoting toward a new focus on "electric mobility, fully connected cars, and a new driver experience," Diess announced.
To start, Diess introduced two new vehicles — the BUDD-e Concept and the e-Golf Touch.
Here's the BUDD-e concept:
The BUDD-e concept, for example, features interfaces that are controlled with simple hand gestures, and it offers connectivity that links to your other smart devices between the car and the home.
The big story here is that Volkswagen is going full-bore into the world of electric vehicles. The BUDD-e is built on Volkswagen's new EV-dedicated modular electric MEB architecture. The platform will be exclusive to Volkswagen's electric vehicles.
According to a statement from Volkswagen, the platform will give its electric cars mileage "on par with today's gasoline-powered cars by the end of the decade."
Long-range electric vehicles are one of the lofty benchmarks required to help EVs compete with the gas-powered vehicles that easily dominate market. EVs currently make up only about 1% of vehicles.
These latest moves signal Volkswagen's attempt to turn the page on its massive emissions scandal that dominated headlines last year and subjected millions of affected vehicles to worldwide scrutiny.
Beyond all of the excitement of Volkswagen's new products, Diess reiterated that the "most important goal for 2016 is to solve the emissions issue in the US."