Volkswagen said it plans to invest billions of euros through 2022 to beef up its portfolio of combustion and electric drives as it braces for a further tightening of emissions rules in key markets.
Europe’s biggest car maker last year announced a multi-billion-euro shift to embrace electric cars and new mobility services as it battles to overcome its diesel emissions scandal, and the German group is cutting costs in all areas of operations to fund this transformation.
Volkswagen (VW) will spend about €10bn ($11bn) over the next five years to raise the fuel efficiency of combustion engines by 10 to 15% in anticipation of stricter emissions standards in Europe, the United States and China, chief executive Matthias Mueller said yesterday.
VW will also triple its investment in electric drives to about €9bn over the same period, including a new generation of full hybrids for the US, where its emissions scandal broke in 2015.
It has spent 3bn euros on zero-emissions technology in the past five years. “Even though modern combustion engines will be relevant for at least another 20 years, it is clear that the future will be ruled by electric drives,” Mueller said, citing a need to respond to “epochal changes” in industry.
“What’s at stake is to develop a future-proof drives portfolio as a basis for transforming the core autos business,” Mueller told an auto industry conference in Vienna. VW’s emissions scandal has cast a shadow over the entire market for diesel cars and has ramped up pressure on automakers to improve combustion engines.
Mueller: Epochal changes.
