The new VW Group CEO Oliver Blume and Brand CEO Thomas Schäfer continue to readjust the plans of their predecessors. According to a media report, the design draft for the new electric flagship Trinity has fallen through – the model will be redesigned.
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The VW brand is about to fundamentally replan its product strategy for further electric models. According to the report, more electric cars based on the MEB are to be launched on the market, for which the MEB is to be modernised with an investment of billions.
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According to a media report, the new Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume is questioning the construction of the new electric car plant planned by his predecessor Herbert Diess in the Warmenau district of Wolfsburg. The result is that the electric flagship Trinity is “probably not to come until 2030”.
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As of today, Oliver Blume acts as CEO of both Porsche and the Volkswagen Group. He succeeds Herbert Diess as announced and sets the course right from the start. German media has learnt that Blume will reduce the Board of Management to take decisions more quickly.
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Volkswagen announced a surprise change of boss on Friday evening: CEO Herbert Diess is leaving the company at the end of August. On 1 September, Porsche boss Oliver Blume will take over and lead both companies in parallel.
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Porsche has postponed the market launch of the all-electric Macan until 2024. What was previously a rumour in the industry has now been confirmed by Porsche boss Oliver Blume himself. But: In addition to the E-Macan, a new electric luxury SUV is to roll off the production line in Leipzig in the future.
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The Croatian electric car manufacturer Rimac will take over a majority stake in VW’s luxury Bugatti brand, as expected. The German automaker group is thus parting with a brand but will continue to hold shares in the new company Bugatti-Rimac via Porsche.
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Porsche wants to build its own battery cell factory for the production of “high-performance batteries” in Tübingen, Germany. Although the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer plans to purchase batteries for its electric cars from parent company Volkswagen in the future, high-performance cells – that is “a Porsche domain”.
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After news broke last night, that the VW Supervisory Board had withdrawn the leadership of the VW Passenger Cars brand from Group CEO Herbert Diess, more details behind the reasoning have come to light and not all of them look very pretty.
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Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess has massively tightened the group’s austerity measures in the Corona crisis and made some choice words internally regarding electrification. Diess’ goal: E-mobility must not remain a subsidy business.
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According to German media reports, Volkswagen is preparing a personnel shuffle in its brand management boards. VW Group boss Herbert Diess, who also runs the VW brand, apparently wants to bring Porsche boss Oliver Blume to Wolfsburg.
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Porsche is investing around 10 billion euros in the hybridisation, electrification and digitalisation of its vehicles by 2024 and, according to their statements, is “consistently expanding” the product range in the field of electric mobility.
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According to CEO Oliver Blume, Porsche has now marked up 10,000 purchase contracts for its Taycan electric sports car. The first Taycans are scheduled to roll into US dealers before the end of this year.
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Porsche CEO Oliver Blume details further electric Porsche cars to follow the Taycan and says the company has “prototypes of the 718 running in electric now”. The new models will utilise the PPE platform Porsche is sharing with Audi, and hybrid models are under consideration as well.
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The EV offensive by Porsche will cost the German automobile manufacturer billions, without a quick return on investment. For this reason, CEO Oliver Blume has announced a plan to save/make back several billion over the next three years.
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Porsches says it will double its investments in the development and construction of electric vehicles from and initial 3 billion euros to a total of 6bn euros. The money is for the development of new and existing hybrid models as well as pure electric cars.
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There is no doubt that German brand Porsche will launch another EV after going serial with its Mission E project in 2019. But what it will be like won’t be revealed before the first half of 2018.
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“We will carefully monitor customer demand to have the right mix for each market, whether that be combustion engines or plug-in hybrids.”
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume expects fully electric vehicles sales to make up a double-digit percentage of sales by 2025. But he also says that the carmaker is currently solely focusing on the Mission E and will “have to see whether it’s sensible to expand the range further in the next decade.”
autonews.com
According to Smart CEO Annette Winkler, electric Smart will continue to offered under the current brand and will not be integrated into Daimler’s new EQ label.
motor1.com
Indian Power Minister Piyush Goyal says that grid integration and electric mobility are on top of the priority list in the country. The goal is six to seven million electric and hybrid cars per year from 2020.
sify.com
VW brand chief Herbert Diess is ready to say goodbye to diesel technology and focus on electrification plans in the U.S. Framework conditions there just make it impossible to continue offering diesel engines.
fortune.com
Finbar McFall, Global Product and Strategy executive at Jaguar Land Rover, says that by 2020, half of the carmaker’s vehicles sold will have some form or electric or hybrid drivetrain. The I-Pace will launch 2018, so it seems we can expect to see PHEV models from JLR next year.
caradvice.com.au
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says that in the carmaker’s line-up, “real combustion engines” will most likely co-exist with electric drivetrains for about the next ten years. He doesn’t know what the future holds, but an electric 911 is currently not in the pipeline.
autocar.co.uk
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume comments on the planned 800 Volt fast-charging system that Porsche is developing for the VW Group. Plans are apparently getting more concrete and will even give its biggest competitor a place to plug in.
electrek.co
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche says the company will not only catch up to, but overtake Tesla as leader of the electric mobility market in less than a decade. The EQ brand introduced in Paris is to lead the way.
electrek.co
Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn wants to develop inexpensive EVs in India to sell in China. The Alliance worries about losing its place there to local players, who offer electric mobility for less.
indiatimes.com
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume sees the World Endurance Championship (WEC) as a great opportunity to research hybrid technology that could one day be used in consumer cars. It’s also the reason why he considers these races more important than i.e. Formula 1.
autocar.co.uk
Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali says that as for now, the carmaker will stay away from electrification because that is what consumers want. But as soon as that shifts, Lamborghini’s focus will shift as well.
autocar.co.uk
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume would not share any details of the upcoming Porsche Panamera, but he insists the change to plug-in hybrid will not only boost efficiency but also performance.
autocar.co.uk
Nick Sampson, Faraday Future Senior VP R&D and Engineering, sees no place for ICE in the future of electric vehicles. Instead, he intends to keep FF technology open to other battery chemistry and systems.
automotiveworld.com
Sales and marketing boss at DS, Arnaud Ribault, says the brand’s electric E-Tense concept is a symbol of the brand’s intentions. He further noted that he not only liked the upcoming all-electric BMW i8, but would like to produce a rival vehicle.
autocar.co.uk
Franck Welsch, Volkswagen’s head of technology, calls for balancing consumer demands like “design, interior space, comfort”, with driving fun. Sounds like electric is just the way to go, does it not?!
autocar.co.uk
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume stresses that the Mission E will resemble the concept, but that the EV still needs to have “all the driving emotion of a Porsche.” Again, that sounds like an ideal case for electrification.
idw-online.de
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume hopes that the German government will both decide on an incentive scheme for EVs, as well as help with the development of charging infrastructure. He says Porsche will do its part.
wiwo.de (in German)
Škoda CEO Bernhard Maier confirms that the manufacturer will offer an all-electric car. Škoda already showcased a plug-in version of its VisionS in Geneva.
greencarcongress.com
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler expects electric and hybrid car sales to account for 20-25 percent of sales by 2025, after which all-electric cars will become mainstream. He also said that fuel cell technology was worth looking into.
autocar.co.uk
Peter Schmidt, chief editor of Automotive Industry Data, says that low petrol prices are keeping drivers from going electric. Only in countries like Norway, which has an extensive incentive scheme, are electric vehicles taking off.
bloomberg.com
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne doesn’t mince his words, saying that we will not ever see an electric Ferrari. Nor a self-driving one, as Marchionne added that “you’ll have to shoot [him] first.” We that think that may be that is a bit drastic…
cnn.com
Industry veteran Bob Lutz is not trying to put down Tesla. He continued saying that competitors like his former employer GM will depress prices for EVs further, as they launch their own electric models.
forbes.com
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume underlines the brand’s investment – both in terms of money and research – in electric vehicle technology. The Mission E might even lead to more purely electric models in the future.
newsroom.porsche.com
Nissan spokeswoman Paige Presley does not buy into the tale of low oil prices decreasing EV sales. In the long run, the advantages of driving electrically just appear too evident.
autoblog.com
Dr. Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Porsche Executive Board, comments on the manufacturer’s decision to go ahead with the all-electric sports car Mission E.
porsche.com
Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, advices other cities to further push electrification. Los Angeles currently has the largest electric fleet in any U.S. city.
cities-today.com
Hiroji Onishi, Toyota’s chief executive officer for the China region, is happy that starting next year, buyers of the Levin and Corolla hybrids in the cities of Tianjin or Guangzhou will be allowed to enter the license plate lottery normally reserved for PHEVs.
japantimes.co.jp
“We will carefully monitor customer demand to have the right mix for each market, whether that be combustion engines or plug-in hybrids.”
“I think for the moment we keep going and continuing because Smart has its Electric Drive slogan that is well recognized by our customers and we appreciate that. At the moment, there are no plans to switch branding.”
“We see 2030 as an important year when we aim that every new car manufactured in India will be an electric vehicle.”
“At the moment we assume that we will offer no new diesel vehicles in the U.S.”
“We will have plug-in hybrids very soon, even ahead of the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace.”
“Now we are setting a new target to ourselves and that’s to be the leader in electric premium vehicles – latest by 2025.”
“We will develop low-cost electric cars based on knowledge coming out of India, but deploy it in China, because that is where the market exists.”
“In terms of the plug-in hybrid we use at Le Mans, that experience is being carried over to our road models. It’s important in terms of long tests of hybrid technology.”
“We need to make sure that as soon as the technology of electrification is relevant to our car at a cost level, and will add value, we are flexible to shift in that direction.”
“We are really against any hybrid technology that uses gasoline or diesel. We want to be pure electric – that’s our foundation, and that’s where we will stay. But there are a number of different ways to be pure electric, which we are actively exploring. Lithium-ion batteries aren’t the only solution.”
“We would like to develop high-performance cars of hybrid and full-electric. This is the direction we are interested in – that’s why we created E-Tense.”
“Yes, electrification offers an all-new way of looking at cars, but we don’t want to lose customers – we have to balance these factors while pushing to show what we can do.”
“Mobility must become clean. We have therefore fitted the VisionS with electric motors and plug-in technology. By 2019, we will offer the first Škoda with this technology. A purely electric vehicle will follow shortly after.”
“Hybrid and plug-in hybrids are a transitional and bridge technology for about the next ten years.”
“The market for electric cars in Europe has been extremely disappointing. Five years ago, carmakers were really optimistic, but at the moment, in my view they will be lucky if the market share reaches 1 percent by 2020.”
“With Ferrari, it’s almost an obscene concept.”
“While Tesla’s car is excellent, the business has always been lousy. Now, it’s super lousy because the generic demand for electric vehicles is down.”
“While there will always be some EV buyers who are swayed by the changing price of oil, we believe that EV sales will continue to rise over time due to increasing emission regulations and other reasons for purchase of EVs such as lower operating costs, reducing dependence on foreign energy sources, environmental concerns, and a fun-to-drive experience.”
“Toyota has taken 10 years to sharpen a sword. This year marks the start of a hybrid era in China.”