The Volkswagen Group has adopted a future programme “TOGETHER – Strategy 2025” in which it aims to become a world-leading provider of sustainable mobility.
Special emphasis will be place on e-mobility. The Group is planning a broad-based initiative in this area: it intends to launch more than 30 purely battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) over the next ten years. The company estimates that such vehicles could then account for around a quarter of the global passenger car market. The Volkswagen Group forecasts that its own BEV sales will be between two and three million units in 2025, equivalent to some 20 to 25 percent of the total unit sales expected at that time.
Matthias Müller, the CEO of Volkswagen, reaffirmed that the company would invest billions over the coming years in a major “electrification initiative second to none in the industry” as well as in autonomous driving, digitalization and new business fields such as mobility services.
“We are also continuing our intensive efforts to enhance the environmental compatibility of our diesel and gasoline models,” Müller said, and announced another milestone related to the internal combustion engine. “We will successively equip the Group’s new TSI and TFSI engines with gasoline particulate filters. This initiative will begin with the 1.4 litre TSI engine in the new VW Tiguan and the Audi A5 in June 2017. This will reduce particulate emissions by up to 90 percent. Up to 7 million Volkswagen vehicles could be equipped with this technology each year by 2022.”
“In Strategy 2025, the Group is undertaking an electrification initiative that is “second to none in the industry.” Nonetheless, the combustion engine remains important: “It will be with us for some time to come and will still account for around two-thirds of the new vehicles market volumes in 2030. But that also means the other third will be electrically-powered. The breakthrough for e-mobility will long be reality by then. And we are determined to make e- mobility a new hallmark of Volkswagen.”
The Volkswagen Group is going to launch over 30 fully electric new vehicles by 2025. “We expect that by then we will be selling about 2 to 3 million pure-electric automobiles a year. This will account for a significant share – an estimated 25 percent – of our total sales volume. We are stepping up our efforts accordingly and will launch a multi-billion euro investment programme,” Müller declared.
A similar goal is being pursued in another initiative: establishing battery technology as one of the Volkswagen Group’ score competencies. This technology is the key to e-mobility. It accounts for 20 to 30 percent of value-added for fully electric vehicles. “We will need 150 gigawatt hours of battery capacity by 2025 for our own e-fleet alone – which would make for a massive procurement volume,” the CEO explained.
The CEO also outlined the lessons that will be drawn from the past for the shareholders: “We have therefore decided that emissions tests at our company will, as a general principle, be externally evaluated by independent third parties in future. Real-world random testing of vehicle emissions behavior on the road will also be introduced. I strongly believe that our industry requires more transparency, courage and openness in dealing with this issue. And this is why we firmly support political initiatives in this area.”
The Federal Motor Transport Authority recently issued approval covering the recall of approximately 1 million further Volkswagen vehicles – primarily Golf models. This means approval has now been issued for more than 3.7 million affected vehicles, including the VW Passat, Tiguan and Caddy, all variants of the Golf, the SEAT Exeo and the ŠKODA Superb plus various Audi models such as the A3, A4 and Q5.
GREEN CAR GUIDE REVIEWS OF PLUG-IN VEHICLES >>
- Audi A3 e-tron
- BMW i3 (Launch)
- BMW i3 (Living with)
- BMW i8
- Chevrolet Volt
- Kia Soul EV
- Mercedes-Benz C 350 e
- Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV long-term test
- Nissan e-NV200
- Nissan e-NV200 7 Seater
- Nissan LEAF
- Peugeot iOn
- Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid
- Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid
- Renault Fluence ZE
- Renault Kangoo ZE
- Renault Twizy
- Renault ZOE (Launch)
- Renault ZOE (Living with)
- smart fortwo cabrio ED
- Tesla Model S P85D
- Toyota Prius Plug-in
- Vauxhall Ampera
- Volkswagen e-Golf
- Volkswagen e-up!
- Volkswagen Golf GTE
- Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid
- Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine
The post Volkswagen Group to launch more than 30 new electric vehicles by 2025 with sales target of 2-3 million per year appeared first on GreenCarGuide.co.uk.