Photo: Volkswagen
Ever since the Dieselgate scandal broke in September 2015, Volkswagen has been a brand in search of a new identity. With the emphasis put strongly on its diesel engines, the public associated the German brand with its TDI power units. When all hell broke loose, that connection started working against the brand, so VW needed to find something else.
Judging from the latest reactions, we'd say that Volkswagen wants to become the leading German manufacturers in the field of electric vehicles. With BMW announcing it will ditch EV development in favor of autonomous driving - even though we feel they kind of work hand-in-hand - that only leaves Mercedes-Benz to provide some competition, as Opel is keeping quiet on the subject. Or any other subject, for that matter.
Of course, Volkswagen isn't a direct competitor for Mercedes-Benz or BMW, but rest assured, as soon as the technology is there, other members of the group will make use of it, and we're mostly thinking about Audi.
At the moment, Volkswagen only has two electric models - the e-Golf and e-Up! - with two in the pipeline from Audi and Porsche. But the real problem doesn't lie with their numbers, but their quality. The e-Golf is said to receive a battery pack buff this year which should boost its maximum range to 186 miles (300 km), but that's still short of the current 200 miles critical threshold.
Still, since the company's CEO Matthias Muller was announcing VW's strategy in the upcoming years, and not talking about technical matters, let's focus on what we have at hand. Mr. Muller said that we should expect to see 30 new battery-powered electric vehicles wearing the Volkswagen badge by 2025. He didn't go into details, but 30 EV models over a nine-year period would be impressive, not to mention a huge departure from the current way of doing things.
Maybe even more important was what he said about the production volumes, stating that Volkswagen intends to build anywhere between two to three million EVs by the same year. Now that's a large margin of error - one million vehicles - but considering that current production is counted in the tens of thousands, that would be a significant leap accounting for 20 to 25% of the brand's total sales.
This falls in line nicely with the recent reports of a massive investment planned by Volkswagen for a plant similar to Tesla's Gigafactory where the company could build its own battery packs to support the planned volumes. As for autonomous driving, Volkswagen plans to develop the technology on its own - or, should we say, continue to develop the technology, since Audi has been working on it for quite some time.
The CEO also spoke of the other big trend in the automotive world besides electrification and self-driving technology: alternative mobility in the form of ride-hailing services. The recent $300 million investment in Gett should be perceived as a serious statement, marking a partnership between the two brands similar to those made by GM and Lyft or Toyota and Uber.
Of course, Volkswagen isn't a direct competitor for Mercedes-Benz or BMW, but rest assured, as soon as the technology is there, other members of the group will make use of it, and we're mostly thinking about Audi.
At the moment, Volkswagen only has two electric models - the e-Golf and e-Up! - with two in the pipeline from Audi and Porsche. But the real problem doesn't lie with their numbers, but their quality. The e-Golf is said to receive a battery pack buff this year which should boost its maximum range to 186 miles (300 km), but that's still short of the current 200 miles critical threshold.
Still, since the company's CEO Matthias Muller was announcing VW's strategy in the upcoming years, and not talking about technical matters, let's focus on what we have at hand. Mr. Muller said that we should expect to see 30 new battery-powered electric vehicles wearing the Volkswagen badge by 2025. He didn't go into details, but 30 EV models over a nine-year period would be impressive, not to mention a huge departure from the current way of doing things.
Maybe even more important was what he said about the production volumes, stating that Volkswagen intends to build anywhere between two to three million EVs by the same year. Now that's a large margin of error - one million vehicles - but considering that current production is counted in the tens of thousands, that would be a significant leap accounting for 20 to 25% of the brand's total sales.
This falls in line nicely with the recent reports of a massive investment planned by Volkswagen for a plant similar to Tesla's Gigafactory where the company could build its own battery packs to support the planned volumes. As for autonomous driving, Volkswagen plans to develop the technology on its own - or, should we say, continue to develop the technology, since Audi has been working on it for quite some time.
The CEO also spoke of the other big trend in the automotive world besides electrification and self-driving technology: alternative mobility in the form of ride-hailing services. The recent $300 million investment in Gett should be perceived as a serious statement, marking a partnership between the two brands similar to those made by GM and Lyft or Toyota and Uber.
Google News