In the aftermath of Volkswagen?s diesel emissions scandal, many of the brand?s diesels might never return to the U.S. Also related to the TDI fiasco, VW has gone through executive turnover, faced civil and criminal courtroom time, maneuvered through a consumer-affairs nightmare with owners, and clashed with regulators over how to fix the vehicles. And it?s still not over. To refocus, VW is turning its efforts in a single direction: electrics. 
In the past year the automaker has changed its tune a bit, adopting a bullish plan to electrify its lineup. That involves an entirely new generation of longer-range electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids; and now, early next month at the Paris auto show?and, according to several sources, teased at a recent meeting with the media at Wolfsburg?the brand will preview the first of those vehicles, likely to go on sale before the end of the decade as a 2020 model. Herbert Diess, the brand boss for Volkswagen, told Autocar last month that this first model will be about the same size as the Golf, but with unique styling inside and out. The project, which involves some of the company?s top engineering talent, aims for a 500-kilometer (310 mile) driving range?possibly significantly lower by official EPA standards?with the vehicle costing less than a conventional gasoline model.
Volkswagen also targets charge times of 15 minutes, but that won?t come until the establishment of a new 800-V (and up to 350 kW, perhaps) charging standard, currently ...