Volkswagen is turning the price screw for its new cars again.
This time two factors are decisive - and underline the new corporate strategy.
Wolfsburg - There is a spirit of optimism in the VW Group.
Despite Corona, the car manufacturer is sticking to its e-mobility strategy and has long been successful in this regard: Together with the models of the brand subsidiaries, it was even able to beat the Primus Tesla * in terms of sales figures for electric cars.
The mission is clear and apparently unpopular decisions do not shy away from them: With the “way to zero” concept, Volkswagen wants to produce zero-emission cars by 2050.
The move away from models with internal combustion engines and the mass suitability of electric vehicles should be achieved much earlier.
VW increases new car prices - two aspects are important
In order to advance this project, VW is planning further electric car innovations this year alone.
In addition, the Wolfsburg-based company is evidently also practicing a pricing strategy, which is also intended to drive customers towards alternative drives.
This is made clear by a
Handelsblatt
report, referring to a letter that the automaker recently sent to its dealers.
Accordingly, Volkswagen * will soon not only implement an annual price increase for its models due to inflation.
In addition, there will also be an in-house environmental surcharge in 2021, which is particularly significant for vehicles that consume fuel with high CO2 emissions.
According to the report, VW cars are on average 1.5 percent more expensive.
For heavy SUV cars, the price increase should be up to four percent.
VW is raising prices - Touareg buyers are likely to be hit hardest
The VW Touareg is likely to be hit hardest: the third generation of the largest SUV in the range has been available since 2018, and a base price of over 60,000 euros is currently due for the off-road vehicle.
That means a price increase of at least 2500 euros.
Electric cars such as the ID.3 * or hybrid models are not excluded from the rise in costs; only the “traditional” aspect of inflation comes into play here, at a lower level.
Whether the price increases at Volkswagen will come at the right time seems at least questionable: the prices of new VW cars did not rise until May 2020, apart from that, Germany's largest manufacturer posted an unsatisfactory result on the home market in January: with 34,189 cars sold, the decrease was compared to this the same period last year just under 30 percent.
Nothing was known about when exactly the price increases that have now been communicated will come into effect.
A criminal offense recently took place at Volkswagen's main plant: a thief stole eight new cars - and uncovered a huge security gap.
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