Volkswagen Group to invest £158bn in EVs over next five years

The Volkswagen Group is aiming to further accelerate its electrification efforts with a committedness to put €180 cardinal (£158bn) in the adjacent 5 years, with the bulk spent connected electrification and bundle development.

The car elephantine – whose brands see Audi, Cupra, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen – sold 8.3 cardinal vehicles successful 2022, with 7% of those battery-electric. But 16% of its existent bid publication of 1.8 cardinal vehicles are EVs, and it anticipates that such models volition relationship for a 5th of its planetary income by 2025.

New Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume has outlined a 10-point maturation program for the firm, which includes revamped merchandise strategies for each of its brands and a large absorption connected electrification and bundle development.

The Group is presently processing the SSP, a software-heavy flexible architecture for EVs that volition underpin the bulk of its aboriginal EVs.

Blume said that 2023 volition beryllium “a decisive twelvemonth for executing strategical goals and accelerating advancement crossed the Group” and confirmed that it would put €180bn (£158bn) betwixt present and 2027. That concern volition highest successful 2025.

Of that full investment, 60% is earmarked for digitalisation and electrification development, up from 56% successful the past 5 years.

The Group has ringfenced €15bn (£13.2bn) for the operation of the caller PowerCo artillery mill successful Salzgitter, Germany. It estimated that artillery sales will make much than €20bn (£17.6bn) by 2030.

However, the Volkswagen Group volition inactive proceed to put successful what it describes arsenic “the past procreation of combustion engines”.

While full income were down this year, the Group benefitted from higher margins connected models, and it expects production to summation arsenic the interaction of the semiconductor shortage lessens during the twelvemonth ahead.

The summation successful net was driven by the premix of income successful the Premium and Sport brands (including Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche) and by beardown income from the Volume brands (Cupra, Skoda and Volkswagen).

Noting that the Group delivered 571,100 EVs past twelvemonth and accrued its revenues and profits, fiscal main Arno Antlitz said: “The bid backlog of astir 1.8 cardinal vehicles let america to look up to [financial year] 2023 with confidence”.

He added that the Group plans to “generate robust returns” this year, “even successful a challenging economical environment”.

The Volkswagen Group besides confirmed it is finalising bundle improvement for its premium and luxury brands, which it says it is considering employing crossed each brands successful the aboriginal successful an effort to amended economies of standard astatine its bundle portion CARIAD.

The bundle unit, established nether Diess successful 2020 and based successful Wolfsburg, Germany, suffered an operating nonaccomplishment of €2.1 cardinal (£1.9 billion) successful 2022 connected revenues of €800 cardinal (£705 million).

Additional reporting by Greg Kable