CHANGE: Volkswagen says its core VW brand is ‘no longer competitive’ financially.

“With many of our pre-existing structures, processes and high costs, we are no longer competitive as the Volkswagen brand,” Thomas Schaefer told staff during a meeting at the German carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, according to a post on the company’s intranet site seen by Reuters.’

The company has been working to improve the financial performance its globally popular namesake car brand, a company spokesperson said. The process is especially important as the VW Group, the parent company, shifts to production of more electric cars.

I hate to break this to you, Mr. Schaefer, but going all-in on EVs is not going to make Volkswagen more competitive.

On the plus side, my best friend recently bought VW’s all-new Golf R — his second — and it’s well made, comfortable, has all the gizmos, and is a kick in the pants to drive. It’s also reasonably priced — if you can get one at sticker price, which has become impossible.

Maybe VW could build a few more gas-burners that people will pay a big markup for.