In a video review released on May 10, 2022 Autogefuhl finally admitted what the world already knows. Volkswagen is an Empire. Was this moment an unfortunate choice of words or a slip of the tongue? Empires, by their very nature, are evil. Empires generate wealth by exercising control over territory, informal domination through sanctions, and obtaining land (stealing) be it mineral deposits or many other natural resources.

The empire will then subjugate the population through misinformation, or brutal occupation. Empires are bad, be it from the early Greek colonisation of Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands, through to the present day American empire.

Yes, America is an empire, from the end of World War 2 to 2022, but that is a story for another day. In comparison, the Volkswagen empire is relatively harmless. The company does not invade countries to steal natural resources.

However, you could argue that Dieselgate is the result of corporate imperialism. Dieselgate was a massive criminal fraud that sacrificed countless lives for the sake of corporate hegemony, greed, and profiteering. Only empires carry out evil, dieselgate was evil.

Volkswagen is now switching to electric cars, not because of a sudden awakening of guilt, but because it was mandated to do so. And now VW is taking control by projecting a message of being sustainable, clean, and caring for the environment.

This is exactly how empires work. Autogefuhl is correct, Volkswagen is an empire.