10:58 am, November 16, 2020
The Volkswagen Group has announced it’s investing 73bn euros on electrified models, hybrid powertrains and digital technology over the next five years.
The German giant is referring to the plan as the next step in its ‘transformation into a digital mobility company’.
The 73bn euros will be split with 27bn set aside for software and digital developments, 35bn will be spent on battery electric vehicles, and 11bn has been earmarked for the development of hybrid vehicles.
Between now and 2030, Volkswagen intends to launch around 50 more all-electric vehicles in addition to the 20 already in production, and another 30 hybrids on top of the 30 models already on sale.
It expects to be building around 26m pure electric cars by 2030, with some 19m based on the Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) platform, with most of the remaining seven million to use the high-performance ‘PPE’ platform.
VW Group factories will be churning out around seven million hybrid vehicles over the same period, too.
Volkswagen is upping its spend and focus on software including its Car.Softwaare organisation. It share in software is to increase from 10 to 60 per cent as it seeks to invest in artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and ‘digitalisation’ of ‘significant business processes’.
In collaboration with Swedish firm Northvolt, VW will invest 1bn euros in a new battery cell plant in Salzgitter, Germany, too.
Meanwhile, VW’s factory in its hometown of Wolfsburg will build another SUV ‘targeting the European market’ from 2024, the firm said in a statement, and its Hanover site will build the retro-inspired ID. Buzz van and three full-electric D-SUV models.
In addition to the ID.4 SUV, VW’s Emden plant will now build the all-electric Volkswagen Aero1 four-door from 2023, while the Passat – which is currently manufactured at Emden – will shift to Bratislava as will the next generation Skoda Superb.
‘Having set the course for a battery-electric future in the Volkswagen Group early on, we are now a global leader with our electric platforms and a broad range of electric vehicles,’ said Herbert Diess, Volkswagen Group CEO.
‘In the coming years, it will be crucial to also reach a leading position in car software in order to meet people’s needs for individual, sustainable and fully connected mobility in the future. To that end, we have doubled our digitalisation spend.’
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