Volkswagen steps out of motorsports

While Volkswagen eMobility board member Thomas Ulbrich is leaving the Group next year, electric mobility is precipitating Volkswagen’s change in position on motorsports. The German carmaker is leaving the motorsport arena to gather its strength for electric mobility.

The reasons for eMobility boss Ulbrich’s departure are being hotly discussed in the German media with different theses. We take a further look into these with a special report. In view of electric vehicles becoming the norm as emission standards tighten, one speculation even before his decision was that the carmaker will not need a separate department for electric vehicles and can integrate them into the usual production organisation.

VW’s focus on electromobility has another, albeit less far-reaching, consequence: the Volkswagen brand will completely discontinue its motorsport activities. The German carmaking giant issued a statement saying that it will be “pooling strengths for the electric offensive.”

“For decades, the Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH team brought the brand a string of major sporting successes. My warmest thanks go to all employees for so many victories, titles and records throughout the world and for their personal dedication and commitment”, said Wilfried von Rath, Member of the Board of Management with responsibility for Human Resources. He added: “We are delighted that we are able to preserve jobs, especially in these challenging times, and will be offering all employees a transfer contract.”

The 169-person workforce at the Hannover-based Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH is to be integrated into Volkswagen AG. Back in November, Volkswagen Motorsport announced that it would not launch any further activities with combustion engines. Now the VW brand will now completely withdraw from motorsport, but Group subsidiaries such as Audi, Porsche and Cupra will continue to be active in electrified motorsport.

autocar.co.uk, carscoops.com, volkswagen-newsroom.com (motorsport) See our article on the departure of eMobility boss Thomas Ulbrich here.