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Here's Why Volkswagen Included Mexico and Central America in Its U.S. Map

The most curious thing we have seen at the Volkswagen New Auto Strategy presentation had nothing to do with the company’s plans. If you follow autoevolution, you must have seen that the company included Mexico and Central America in its map of the U.S. We have written about that and imagined multiple reasons for the situation beyond a simple mistake. In the end, the simplest explanation won.
Volkswagen Explains the U.S. Map 8 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen New Auto StrategyVolkswagen Puts Mexico and Central America in the USVolkswagen New Auto StrategyVolkswagen New Auto StrategyVolkswagen New Auto StrategyVolkswagen Puts Mexico and Central America in the USVolkswagen Puts Mexico and Central America in the US
According to Volkswagen, there were different versions of the chart created for that presentation. Herbert Diess even rehearsed to make sure everything would go perfectly, as the tweet embedded below shows. Unfortunately for the company, nobody noticed that the U.S. was a little larger than it normally is in the presentation.

The mistake seems to have gone unnoticed by most of the reports about the New Auto Strategy presentation. Not even American folks seized that opportunity for mocking the geography knowledge of the company. If you remember how many videos are out there asking people on the streets of U.S. cities about maps only with shameful answers, you get the point.


What makes us wonder is how any version of the chart got so wrong about what the U.S. is. Was it trying to refer to a region and someone changed the name on the chart? Did someone really think the country was that big? We’ll never know, but it is good to see Volkswagen was candid in admitting it was just a mistake.

In times when some automakers refuse to talk to the press or present elaborate explanations to escape responsibility, this is something to praise. Errors happen, we are only human, but the attitude in face of these issues is what makes the difference. May this always be the standard in face of innocent and amusing blunders such as this or more serious stuff.

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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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