Volkswagen Group to produce electric vehicles worldwide on massive scale

To ensure adequate battery capacity for the massive expansion of environmentally-friendly electric mobility, partnerships with battery manufacturers for Europe and China have already been agreed. The contracts already awarded have a total volume of around EUR 20 billion. A supplier decision for North America will be taken shortly.

“Over the last few months, we have pulled out all the stops to implement ‘Roadmap E’ with the necessary speed and determination,” CEO Müller explained in Berlin. When “Roadmap E” was launched last fall, Volkswagen 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, three of which will be purely electric-powered, will be added to the Group’s electric portfolio of eight e-cars and plug-in hybrids.

A number of 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, another member of the Volkswagen I.D. family. From 2019, there will be a new electric vehicle “virtually every month”, Müller 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.”

The CEO made a point of emphasizing that this did not mean Volkswagen was turning its back on conventional drive systems. Modern diesel drives were part of the solution, not part of the problem, he stressed – also with regard to climate change. “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 Müller, adding that “We are putting almostEUR 20 billion into our conventional vehicle and drive portfolio in 2018, with a total of more than EUR 90 billion  cheduled over the next five years.”

A separate Committee chaired by CEO Müller 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,” Müller 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,” Müller announced.

The Volkswagen Group kicked off “Roadmap E”, the most comprehensive electrification drive in the

automotive industry, last year.

Volkswagen Group brands include Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bentley, Porsche, Scania and MAN Commercial vehicles.