Volkswagen: €33Bn for e-mobility / New Audi boss
Volkswagen again accelerates its electric transformation. Planning Round 68 saw the Group increase the investments planned for 2020 to 2024 by 10%, that’s almost 60 billion euros to spend on electromobility, hybridisation and digitisation during this period.
The almost 60 billion euros correspond to over 40 per cent of investments in property, plant and equipment and the total research and development costs in the planning period, according to Volkswagen. Compared with the previous planning round (2019 – 2023, 44 billion euros, 30 per cent of total expenditure), this represents an increase of around ten percentage points. “In the years to come, we will be increasing the pace once again with our investments,” says CEO Herbert Diess, commenting on the new investment plan.
The Volkswagen Group will invest 33 billion euros of the total on pure electromobility. Besides, they adjusted the long-term planning for the next ten years, also to “take advantage of economies of scale and achieve maximum synergies,” as Diess laid out.
By 2029, Volkswagen now wants to launch up to 75 pure electric car models and around 60 hybrid models on the market. As a new sales target until 2029, the Group now names 26 million pure electric cars, with about 20 million units building on the e-drive system MEB. A large proportion of the other six million electric vehicles are to use the PPE platform currently in development at Porsche and Audi. Besides, the Group plans to sell almost six million hybrid cars by 2029.
Last but not least, rumours about the new Audi boss have been confirmed: the former BMW purchasing director Markus Duesmann will take over as Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG from Bram Schot on 1 April 2020, who will then leave the company. Duesmann has also been appointed a new member of the Volkswagen Board of Management, where he will assume responsibility for research and development within the Group. Volkswagen Board of Management Chairman Herbert Diess will hand over this position and instead head Group Sales in future.
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