Volkswagen Group moving to e-mobility
The Volkswagen Group is driving forward with the transformation to e-mobility. Across the globe, 16 locations are to produce battery powered vehicles by the end of 2022.
This was announced by Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen AG, at the Group’s Annual Media Conference in Berlin. The Group currently produces electric vehicles at three locations, and in two years’ time a further nine Group plants will be established.
To ensure adequate battery capacity for the massive expansion of electric mobility, partnerships with battery manufacturers for Europe and China have already been agreed. The contracts have a total of around €20 billion.
Last year, the Volkswagen Group kicked off ‘Roadmap E’, the most comprehensive electrification drive in the automotive industry. ‘Over the last few months, we have pulled out all the stops to implement ‘Roadmap E’ with the necessary speed and determination,’ Matthias explained. With the launch of ‘Roadmap E,’ Volkswagen also announced plans to build up to three million electric vehicles annually by 2025 and market 80 new electric Group models. This year, another nine new vehicles will be added to the Group’s electric portfolio.
Many innovations from the Group were presented last week at the Geneva International Motor Show, among them the Audi e-tron, the Porsche Mission E and the I.D. VIZZION. From 2019, there will be a new electric vehicle ‘virtually every month’, Matthias said, ‘This is how we intend to offer the largest fleet of electric vehicles in the world, across all brands and regions, in just a few years.’
Matthias reassures that these new changes will not mean Volkswagen is turning its back on conventional drive systems. ‘We are making massive investments in the mobility of tomorrow, but without neglecting current technologies and vehicles that will continue to play an important role for decades to come,’ said Matthias.
A separate Committee chaired by Matthias is advancing digitalization in the Group, a key issue for the future. ‘The future of mobility is gradually taking shape, as is the future of the Volkswagen Group,’ Matthias said. The best example of this is SEDRIC, which has enabled the Volkswagen Group to demonstrate the potential of fully autonomous driving for the first time. SEDRIC was designed in the Group, but will soon be ‘leaving the Group for refinement into a series product at one of our brands,’ Matthias announced.
