Clear cut at VW: car manufacturer stomps on combustion engines
A comprehensive clear-cut is imminent at Volkswagen. The car company is thus showing what customers can expect from the switch to e-mobility. By 2030, many petrol and diesel engines will have to give way to the reorientation towards electric cars.
VW’s radical plan: 60 percent of combustion engines are on the brink
The announcements of the car manufacturers speak a clear language: The manufacturers want to switch to electric drive as quickly as possible and in many cases completely, including the VW Group. Volkswagen CFO Arno Antlitz has now revealed exactly what this means for the well-known models with combustion engines: By 2030, 60 percent of all petrol and diesel engines are to disappear from the market.
With this, Volkswagen is not only clearly turning away from combustion engine technology, but also a bit away from the traditional orientation that is actually deeply rooted in the DNA of the car manufacturer. Man focus “more on quality and margins than on quantities and market shares”, according to the manager (source: Financial Times).
The VW Group is thus continuing on the path that led to success in the chip crisis. Audi and Porsche, as premium providers, benefited enormously from the fact that the parent company distributed the available chips to them. Because with the higher-priced models, even with smaller quantities, you can get even more out of it.
Inexpensive models from Volkswagen have to make way for e-cars
If you follow this logic, cheap models should be the first to be deleted. The Polo should already be history. If you start at the bottom and continue to look around in the VW portfolio, the UP should also wobble. The next level of escalation would then be the Golf. At the moment, however, it is difficult to imagine going that far.
Switching to e-cars makes sense not only for manufacturers, but also for customers:
It will probably not stay with the models of the core brand VW. Even with group brands such as Skoda and Seat, the clear cut should make itself felt. The Seat spin-off Cupra, on the other hand, should be safe as a newcomer with a small portfolio and as an e-car brand – just like the high-class brands Audi and Porsche. Audi’s chief technology officer had just counted Tesla’s technical lead. In the interview, he also makes it clear that the cheaper A segment should also be electrified.
The currently high raw material prices would ensure that E-cars will not become profitable and cheaper so quickly, as had been planned, so Antlitz continued.
