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More electric, but not an exit from combustion: VW will increasingly rely on electric cars such as the ID.4 in the future
Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / dpa
More speed in e-mobility and the growing business with customer data should determine the next few years at Volkswagen.
The core brand of Europe's largest car company has now presented a new strategy until 2030.
This is primarily about the further expansion of the electric fleet under the pressure of stricter climate targets.
By 2030, 70 percent of total sales in Europe are to be made up of pure electric vehicles, said VW core brand boss Ralf Brandstätter.
The brand is thus doubling the previously planned rate for battery-electric vehicles of 35 percent.
In the USA and China, the brand aims to achieve an electrical share of more than 50 percent in the same period.
VW's decision to rely even more on e-cars is also a setback for so-called e-fuels, i.e. synthetic fuel that is generated with the help of electricity and is intended to give burners a chance of survival.
The industry association VDA - like the sports car manufacturer Porsche - advocates these fuels, while VW is opposed to this extension of the service life for internal combustion engines.
The Golf and Passat have a successor
Unlike Volvo, Jaguar, Ford or General Motors, the Wolfsburg-based company has not yet given a fixed date for saying goodbye to the combustion engine.
However, many experts do not consider a binding exit date to be decisive for the turnaround.
Short-term, ambitious goals for a high proportion of electricity are therefore better than medium-term exits from combustion engines with loopholes, such as at General Motors.
However, VW did not announce a short-term electric target either.
The brand announced that it would bring the plans for an electric car below the ID.3 with a starting price of 20,000 euros forward by two years to 2025.
At the same time, the VW brand wants to reissue important combustion models and stick to the controversial plug-in hybrids.
All core models such as the Golf, Tiguan and Passat are to have another successor.
"We still need the combustion engine for a certain period of time, but as efficiently as possible," says Brandstätter.
This is why these models should also be available as plug-in hybrids with an electric range of up to 100 kilometers.
However, VW didn't just announce new electric targets.
In addition, the business with data and the downloading of additional functions in the car software should become a focus.
With the ID.3, for example, wireless software updates should be possible from the summer.
It's about direct customer communication, but also about new sources of money.
All possible digital functions should be preinstalled as standard.
Users can then have them activated depending on demand and driving profile.
This should also reduce the previously expensive variety and complexity of numerous different basic variants.
It is conceivable that such a model could "bring in three-digit million amounts in the coffers," said sales manager Klaus Zellmer.
In addition, VW wants to reduce fixed costs by a further five percent within three years.
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ene / dpa