VW short-termism culture

The long string of short-sighted moves from automotive incumbents that painted themselves in a corner, refusing to take on the electric vehicle, is just starting. In that regard, VW's announcement of a future Porsche IPO is certainly up there.

Volkswagen Plans IPO of Porsche to Ignite EV Shift Momentum

Volkswagen AG is preparing an initial public offering of Porsche, seeking a listing of its most profitable asset to help boost the parent’s valuation and fund the push into electric vehicles.

BloombergChristoph Rauwald

It seems that Ford was only the precursor of such moves.

For VW, the idea is to leverage Porsche brand value, amass a bunch of cash through an IPO and use it to fuel its core business shift to electric. Don't get me wrong; this makes a lot of sense. But just because VW, like most of the other incumbents, didn't plan for a real take-off of the EV market.

Just telling the press you're going green, pumping out a few concept cars at trade shows, keeping high volume investment on the diesel side (while gaming national and international regulations) is not a sound strategy after all. It's textbook short-termism as defined by the Oxford dictionary.

A concentration on short-term projects or objectives for immediate profit at the expense of long-term security.

The stock market will love this move for a few weeks and rapidly get out of this stock, shorting expectations on this company's future. As it sadly should.