Volkswagen to manufacture EVs at 16 sites worldwide
By the end of 2022, the German car manufacturer is planning to make electric cars at 16 locations around the globe, CEO Matthias Müller announced. Currently VW is using three sites for the production of BEVs, and foresees another 9 within the next two years.
Furthermore, the electric offensive has other sides, as VW has sorted out several partnerships with battery manufacturers both in Asia and Europe, for a total volume of around 20 billion euros. The decision for a supplier in North America is expected to be announced soon.
One of the Chinese suppliers has also already been announced. According to Chinese news portal Caixin, the battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) is to supply the necessary power in the Chinese manufacturing locations.
“We have pulled out all the stops over the past months to implement the Roadmap E swiftly and resolutely,” said CEO Müller in Berlin. Volkswagen announced its Roadmap E last autumn. It entails plans to build up to three million electric vehicles annually by 2025 and market 80 new electric models. To be exact, the corporate group will release 50 new purely electric vehicles, as well as 30 PHEV models. At Volkswagen, the current electrified lineup of 8 EVs and PHEVs will be extended by another 9 vehicles by end of this year, 3 of which will be purely electric.
VW introduced a few new concepts from their family at the Geneva Motor Show last week, including the Audi e-tron, the Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo and the ID.Vizzion, the newest member of the ID. family. The major offensive will start in 2019 when the company plans to roll out new cars at an “almost monthly” rate.
Recently, VW designated an investment sum of 34 billion euros for the period of 2018-2022, focusing on the four “future technologies”: E-mobility, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalisation. The largest part of the sum will flow into the electrification of current vehicle models, which was announced as part of the Roadmap E. For the further development of modular construction, as well as new vehicle models and further orientation towards electric mobility, the company has earmarked 22.8 billion euros. In their home country of Germany, the company will invest around 14 billion euros, including locations such as Braunschweig, Zwickau, Kassel and Salzgitter, which will receive around 1 billion each. The development plans to do not include the joint ventures in China, which are financing themselves from a separate pot.
The chairman also noted that this did not mean a departure from conventional motors. Müller said they were investing into future mobility concepts, without abandoning current technologies and vehicles though, which will play an important role for decades to come, in Volkswagen’s world. In 2018 alone, about 20 billion euros will be invested in the conventional vehicle and motor portfolio, and will total more than 90 billion over the next 5 years.
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