Out with the old, in with the new – this is the latest Volkswagen advertising theme. If the theme looks familiar, that’s because it continues VW’s previous commercial from 2010 but with changes to fit the narrative of today’s switch to electric vehicles.
An old ad (embedded below) shows an elderly woman selling her beloved Volkswagen Golf to a teenager. As the father (presumably) inspects the used vehicle, the video inserts flashbacks of the owner having fun with the car. The ad wanted to boast about the reliability of the Golfs little abuse from the owner.
The new ad, which is embedded at the top of this page, is taken from the moment the father and son drove away from the driveway. The actors are different, but you’ll quickly get the connection between the old and new commercials.
Understandably, the woman misses her old Golf. He felt bad selling the car and even got it tattooed on his arm in remembrance of his red hatchback. Then he came across a VW ID.4 GTX in the showroom and decided to give it a try… literally. VW’s tagline “Bring back the energy” fits this theme perfectly.
Obviously, VW wants to promote that you can have fun with its electric cars, specifically the ID.4 GTX and ID.5 GTX, as they are powered by internal combustion engines. As the high-performance version of the German EV, we’re not surprised by this move.
The VW ID.4 GTX has a two-motor setup, one on each axle, that produces a total of 295 horsepower (220 kilowatts) and 346 pound-feet (470 Newton-meters) of torque. It can sprint up to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) from a complete standstill in 6.2 seconds, with a top speed electronically limited to 112 mph (180 km/h).
