[rideon74]

A few days ago, I came across a Twitter post mentioning that someone had received a software update for their Taigun and the AC issue has been completely solved. The closing line of the tweet thanked Volkswagen India/dealer for their support.

Being a Kushaq owner myself, my curiosity was piqued and browsed the post thread further and found that someone else has tagged Zac Hollis asking if the same solution was available Kushaq as well. Mr. Hollis' reply to this query was to contact the nearest SVC.

And with that the thread went cold. This tweet was a few days old but no further posts on the matter were there.

As is warranted on Twitter, I checked out the profile of the original tweet. It was an account created on September 2022 with just this one tweet about the Taigun AC issue getting sorted out and strangely no following + followers (maybe 1 following - I don't remember right now).

That seemed weird but I didn't think much about it then so I didn't bother to do further research.

Today morning though another tweet comes up on my feed with the same text - too similar to the earlier one to ignore. This time I did some digging and took screenshots as well. This is the tweet that popped up today - note the date of the tweet:



I decided to check out this profile this time as well. It was the same thing: a profile created on September 2022, one tweet about the Taigun AC issue getting sorted out and one following + nil followers. I'm attaching the screenshot of this Twitter profile - note Twitter joining date:



Just three posts: a selfie first, then one post about the Taigun AC issue being solved and the recent one being a tweet about moon cycles - all of which are just one day old.

One could argue that this maybe a recent Twitter user perhaps. But wait please and read on. My curiosity got the better of me today morning and I headed over to the search bar on my Twitter app, typed in 'Taigun AC' and this is what I got:



Clicked on some of these Twitter profiles and almost all of them were similar fresh accounts with little or no other posts (except for three accounts, which gave away what's being played):









Upon following the original thread further, I found three exceptions to the user profiles and posts seen (as mentioned earlier).

One gentlemen apparently doesn't seem to be having a good experience with his purchase and his posts were the only ones on the thread that went against VW thanking spree:

You can view his string of posts on the 'Taigun AC' thread and his Twitter profile which obviously is real:





The second exception is a Twitter account that has already red flagged these kind of posts but it hasn't garnered much attention:



And third exception: Just one glance at the bio of this profile will give away the game:



To me, the scheme of things is apparent. It's in sync with how media manipulation is well used in almost all marketing schemes these days - the use of bots and what not.

Leaving that point aside, the question that needs to asked here is: Why, VW, why?

Many among us Twitter users are wary of fake posts as it is. It's just not excusable of VW India to pull a stunt like this.

We have experienced the difference in approach to the AC issue between VW and Skoda on social media earlier on. The denial stance was taken by VW and the acceptance of the issue by Zac Hollis for Skoda. We also know that the AC units, the cabin insulation and the overall build is one and the same for both the Taigun and the Kushaq. Obviously, if the Taigun suffers from AC being under performing, so will the Kushaq.

With this Twitter strategy, it is appalling is how far VW seems to be ready to go with their denial strategy.

Mods please note: if it's not kosher to have the names of the real or fake twitter accounts visible, I'll comply and upload the screenshots with the same blocked out. Please advise. Regards.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[ashutoshb]

Good job, brother!

What is being alleged here:

• VAG has hired a digital marketing company for fake positive reviews.
  
• Digital marketing company has created fake accounts for fake positive reviews.
  
• Digital marketing company has created fake VAG customers.
  
• Digital marketing company has created profiles of people impersonating VAG customers.

Would request the mods to rename the thread.

[giri1.8]

This is just the tip of the iceberg my friend you can find insane fanboy post on any post related to cars, most of the time they all have such weird patterns.

Good thread BTW, this will not stop unless we start exposing them.

Sooner or later, all sane people will quit such platforms if no action is taken.

[steadfast]

My hypothesis: a knee jerk reaction by VW due to dismal sales of Taigun and Virtus for month of August. Meanwhile working to fix the problem from root which is taking time.

If fix is taking this time then mostly a hardware problem and not a software problem.

Hope these issues get resolved before I replace my Polo with Taigun.

[amit1agrawal]

There is some truth to Elon Musk's statement on Twitter. Twitter is full of fake accounts. If VW is involved in this then it's a cheap tactic to divert attention than solving the real issue. The first step in solving an issue is admitting it.

[nutcracker]

I am so disappointed by VW especially after two years since I posted the thread "An ode to VW India" (An ode to Volkswagen India) because I was so happy with my ownership of Vento and Polo.

The company is on a free fall in India. Both Taigun and Virtus are underwhelming launches and felt very uncharacteristic of Volkswagen, and now these cheap dirty tactics.

I cannot work with a company that has no integrity. Funnily previously VW seeming like a handful of companies that did have integrity, but after the emission cheat fiasco the company's values are on a free fall.

[m8002?]

It's definitely done by the digital marketing company hired by VW. Question is did VW approve of these tactics?

It's really said to see a company resort to these than really fix the AC issue.

[TechnoBloop]

Well, what the cybersecurity experts claim - "most of the accounts in Twitter are fake/bots" seem to be true.
Some reality check was needed and our fellow member @rideon74 did a great job in doing so!

It's too early to comment whether it was VW who paid digital marketing orgs to do so or was it done by someone just to create a good image of VW India in front of the Indians.
VW India should come up with a proper reply if they weren't involved in any of this. They already have a bad reputation in these kind of things and they wouldn't want their reputation to go down even more!
I at least hope this news reaches VW and they should come up with a proper reply, because if they won't, they are indirectly accepting that they were involved in this fake promotion stuff!

[AROO7]

Originally Posted by rideon74

To me, the scheme of things is apparent. It's in sync with how media manipulation is well used in almost all marketing schemes these days - the use of bots and what not.

Many among us Twitter users are wary of fake posts as it is. It's just not excusable of VW India to pull a stunt like this.

With this Twitter strategy, it is appalling is how far VW seems to be ready to go with their denial strategy.

That only shows how recalcitrant as a company VW is. It seems like they haven't learned their lesson from the diesel-gate fiasco that they are trying to pull off such a stunt in India. But don't worry Indians are smart when it comes to buying products. Just take a quick glance at sales figures of VW 2.0 cars you will get the answer or even better compare it with that of Skoda

[UD17]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Question is did VW approve of these tactics?

I suspect so:

1. They did respond to the fake tweet - even after knowing that a full resolution is still not implemented
2. They continue the point 1 with other fake tweets, even after tweeter user flagged the suspicion

The digital marketing platform has provided an opportunities for OEMs to divert & misrepresent the facts. Its an unlimited web of information, userbase, hidden identities such that the facts are not easy to decipher. This is where OEM ethics come into picture and everybody know whether to expect this from this OEM?

[PrathamTSI7DSG]

From faking selling out cars to this. Every German brand has some different tools of marketing.

[ajayc123]

Very sad to see such tactics. No individuals should be motivated to do such an act.

I think that Volkswagen/Skoda had also potentially injected an influencer on Team BHP, kapursaket, who had made a lot of biased posts and was ultimately banned. See post #1709

member banned (Skoda Kushaq Review)

[MadHawk]

Originally Posted by amit1agrawal

If VW is involved in this then it's a cheap tactic to divert attention than solving the real issue. The first step in solving an issue is admitting it.

Well said ! This just shows the incompetence and knee jerk reaction of the VW India Top Mgmt. Their brand head doesn't know the concept of brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. This is just an attempt by VW India mgmt to sweep the issue under the carpet and hope it goes away.

On the other hand Skoda at least under Zac seemed like they were making an attempt to correct the perception and be more customer friendly. Even the Kodiaq branding during the Asia cup was a cost effective and good recall strategy unlike VW India who spend all their Marketing $$ on 5 star large 1 day events wining and dining so called motor journo’s.

However good their cars are even the fanboys will turn away with the lack of current VW customer engagement by their India Mgmt. Really feel sorry as a VW fanboy on their tactics to hide issues and not communicate or reassure both current and future customers. The buck stops with their senior mgmt if these cheap fake twitter posts are traced back to a digital company VW india or its vendors hired.

[nec2152]

I don't expect VW to respond here in an official capacity.

I have seen that senior leaders tend to keep the official line of outward communication away from responding to allegations or controversies. Their usual take is that, it doesn't matter where you are on the scale of right and wrong. Once you start responding to allegations on social media, trolls on social medial are going to drag you down into an endless spiral of cross questioning. All that is happening out in the open and companies are hyper allergic to that. Companies can't speak as freely as individuals, esp. since every company usually has skeletons in their closets.

I wouldn't be surprised if VW here or other companies in similar controversies choose to not respond in an official capacity, no matter how much we, as end users, feel that companies are obliged to respond and clear the air, especially if they have done nothing wrong.

I don't want to comment on what is the right morally/ethically/legally when it comes to responding to controversies and clearing the air, since that definition is often fluid based on whom you talk to. But I kinda get why mature companies prefer to stay silent rather than responding to every Tom, Dick and Harry and getting further mired into a spiral of allegations, brickbats and potshots while they try to clear the air. They have very little to gain but a lot to lose on social media where toxic trolling is rampant and respectful behavior is generally absent.

Coming to fake reviews, the problem of fake reviews is REALLY REALLY HUGE everywhere these days and my hunch here is that most likely it's a joint work of VW PR managers and the PR firm VW has a contract out with, which takes care of everything their clients need from time to time, including generating fake reviews/posts on a targeted topic that is hot these days. The actual post writers are quite lazy though, and with a little eye to the detail, you can easily spot what is fake and what is genuine.