Over the 17 years I’ve supported Greenpeace, I’ve done a lot of odd things to help persuade companies to change their ways, but booking a test drive at my local VW dealership was a new one. Alison (Swansea)
My slot was at 4pm on a busy Saturday afternoon. The VW campaign feels like an important one, and seems to be gathering pace - VW are Europe's leading car manufacturers and hopefully, with a bit of help, they can be persuaded to do the right thing.
Then if along with the German government, they back tougher European legislation on CO2 emissions and ensure all their cars use new technology that ensure low emissions, it should lead the way for other car manufacturers to do similar, and be a crucial step to fight climate change.
So I head out to Penllergaer, a quiet area on the outskirts of Swansea. Starting to feel a little nervous, as perhaps this could be a little confrontational?
I head in to the showroom and go to the first desk, where I come across a pleasant-looking salesman. He doesn't know anything about the booked test drive so I'm totally disarmed and perhaps a little relieved! I then go on to explain that actually this was just a cover, a creative fiction, that I'm from Greenpeace and that we are having a campaign aimed at persuading VW to change their ways.
He hasn't heard anything of it, so I then go on to explain what the campaign is about. I still feel a little flustered, but he's calm and actually reacts with interest and seems in sympathy with our aims. Is this a typical VW salesman? - If so I'm charmed!
The meeting is fairly brief. I then hand over my typed out list of asks and ask if he'll relay this to his boss and VW headquarters and that I would like a reply - he agrees. So that was a surprise!
At the beginning of the week however, I find myself recieving text messages about buying cars and find a phone message from Mark, the salesman, I was supposed to have seen about the test drive.
Out of politeness I return his call and then explain that I wasn't actually interested in a test drive but was from Greenpeace. At first he's still convinced I want to buy a car, but when the penny drops he's not exactly pleased – he complains I've wasted him a sales opportunity, that they are only a franchise, and that we should be targeting the UK headquarters and also the German headquarters.
Following his advice I tell him that Greenpeace has already taken the campaign to the UK headquarters, that this is a Europe wide campaign and that the local actions are a small price to pay for ensuring lower emissions in the future.
I still haven't heard anything back about the asks to VW head office, so perhaps another visit to the dealership is in order?
Read more about the Dark Side of Volkswagen (pdf)
Get Active with Greenpeace in Swansea
Read more about Volkswagen lobbying in the US
Contact your local active supporter network and help us turn VW away from the Darkside
Or if talking to salesmen, lobbying politicians, and writing letters to CEO's is something you'd like to be trained to do, then why not join Greenpeace's lobbying network?
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