Volkswagen will spend the next five years charging to fill showroom floors with a range of five battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and 48-volt hybrids, but it will leave a very obvious gap in between: It now has no plans to sell a single plug-in hybrid (PHEV) car or SUV in North America. Not only that, it might not even sell one in its European home market.
Volkswagen brand boss Herbert Diess has turned away from the Dieselgate recovery plans devised under former Volkswagen Group of America boss Michael Horn, which called for replacing its not-so-clean-after-all diesels with really clean PHEVs. Diess even said that he believes Volkswagen can still turn its Tiguan into the world?s biggest-selling SUV without offering plug-in hybrid technology in two of the world?s three biggest car markets. Plug-ins or not, Volkswagen is committed to a forecast of selling at least a million BEVs a year by 2025, with about 200,000 of those slated for North America. Unlike other, better-known BEV makers, Volkswagen insists its cars will be profitable from Day One.
In a crisp, staccato dinner conversation, Diess brushed through questions about Volkswagen?s patchy plug-in strategy like this:

C/D: You say the Tiguan will become the world?s biggest-selling SUV, but it doesn?t have a hybrid powertrain yet.
HD: No, not in Europe.
You showed the concept car originally as a hybrid, and it?s not a hybrid.
We will have a hybrid.
In Europe"
It?s not yet decided.
In America"
No. For America, ...