As of: March 13, 2024, 3:34 p.m
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Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen AG stands next to Arno Antlitz, Chief Financial Officer of VW after the Volkswagen Group's annual press conference.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The abolition of the purchase premium has caused sales of electric cars to plummet.
VW is still sticking to the electric course.
The decision on an entry-level electric car for 20,000 euros should be made this year.
Berlin - Europe's largest car manufacturer Volkswagen is sticking to the electric course despite the current lull in electric cars.
“We stand by our strategy and clearly see the future in electromobility,” said CEO Oliver Blume on Wednesday when presenting the group balance sheet for 2023 in Berlin.
“I don’t believe in immediately questioning everything when there’s a headwind.”
Given the current reluctance to buy, especially in Germany, 2024 will be a “challenging year” for the group, admitted Blume.
Nevertheless, he was confident that demand would pick up again in the next few months and that Volkswagen could at least achieve slight growth for the year as a whole.
According to the outlook in the annual report, sales are expected to increase by three percent compared to 2023.
“Largest model offensive in the company’s history”
The numerous models that the group brands are launching this year are intended to help.
“We are launching the largest model offensive in the history of the group,” said Blume.
“More than 30 models will be launched in 2024.” These include the facelift of the Golf, which is once again coming as a combustion engine, and the long-overdue electric hopefuls Macan Electric from Porsche and Q6 e-tron from Audi.
Both were supposed to start two years ago, but had to be postponed several times due to software problems.
Blume called for more support for electromobility from politicians.
“We need a clear commitment from politicians,” he said.
Above all, the industry needs planning security.
He expressed sharp criticism of the surprising cancellation of the purchase bonus for electric cars in Germany at the end of 2023. Demand collapsed after that, and VW had to reduce production and cancel shifts at its electric car plants in Zwickau and Emden.
But he's not worried about the locations.
With new models, the demand for electric cars will also increase again, said Blume.
The decision on the 20,000 euro electric car will be made at the end of 2024
The group has great hope for the ID.2all entry-level electric car announced for 2026 for under 25,000 euros and a possibly even cheaper ID.1 model for 20,000 euros.
They want to make a decision on the project by the end of the year, explained Blume.
A cooperation with another car manufacturer cannot be ruled out.
The “Handelsblatt” recently reported on discussions with Renault.
According to “Automobilwoche”, the target launch date for the small electric car is 2027.
Last year, the group achieved record sales and operating profit.
Earnings after taxes increased from 15.8 billion euros in the previous year to 17.9 billion euros, as VW announced on Wednesday.
This was mainly thanks to the backlog of orders with which VW started 2023.
Due to a lack of parts such as chips, VW was unable to build as many cars as were ordered and delivery times were long.
This order backlog has now largely been processed, said CFO Arno Antlitz.
“We will not have the tailwinds we had in 2023 again in 2024.”
The efficiency and savings programs that were set up for all Group brands in 2023 are expected to deliver the first noticeable results this year.
Blume announced that this should bring ten billion euros in earnings improvements across the group by the end of the year.
The core brand VW alone accounts for four billion euros.
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The board cuts its own salary
Blume also puts a red pencil on his own salary.
All members of the corporate board would forego five percent of their fixed salary this year.
“We think this is an important signal that we as the board of directors are also doing our part and starting with ourselves,” explained Blume.
However, his loss is limited: of the 8.7 million euros that Blume, who is also Porsche boss, earned in 2023, only 1.3 million went to Volkswagen's fixed salary.
If the remuneration remained unchanged, Blume would forego 65,000 euros in 2024.
The discount is somewhat larger for the other board members who do not have a second job at Porsche.
Their fixed salaries were up to 1.5 million euros in 2023.
If her remuneration remained unchanged, she would forego 75,000 euros in 2024.
dpa