According to Bloomberg News, the Volkswagen Group is continuing to invest heavily in the future. As part of the Round Plan 68 (Planning Round 68), Volkswagen's five-year investment plan for 2020-2024 has been finalized.
According to the above plan, the Volkswagen Group plans to invest 60 billion euros in hybrid, electric mobility and digitalization between 2020 and 2024. This is equivalent to more than 40% of the company's total investment of 145 billion euros in this planning period, including real estate, factories, equipment and research and development expenses. Compared with the last five-year plan of the group, the investment in this five-year period has increased by about 10 percentage points, of which 33 billion euros have been invested in electric mobile travel, and the remaining 27 billion euros have been invested in hybrid and digital fields. .
Hans Dieter Poetsch, chairman of the Volkswagen Group Supervisory Board, issued a statement after the supervisory board approved the plan: "We will resolutely promote the transformation of the Volkswagen Group and focus on the future of the automotive industry."
Only one year later, the Volkswagen Group's investment in future travel has grown substantially, reflecting the increasing pressure on major automakers under the pressure of disruptive technology shifts and increasingly stringent pollution regulations. The slowdown in the market makes investment financing more difficult.
Last month, Volkswagen lowered its global car delivery expectations due to weaker demand in key markets, including China. China is Volkswagen's largest single sales region in the world. Volkswagen has cut production plans by 900,000 units and is preparing to cut production further to avoid inventory expansion.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said in a statement: "In view of the deteriorating economic situation, we are also working hard to improve the productivity, efficiency and cost base. We intend to use economies of scale to achieve The biggest synergy."
Volkswagen is only investing 33 billion euros in the field of electric travel, which indicates that the company has been very eager to transform. Tesla announced this week that it plans to build a super factory in Berlin, Germany, which increases the urgency of the situation.
By 2029, the Volkswagen Group plans to launch as many as 75 pure electric models, up from the previous 70. Volkswagen expects to produce about 26 million electric vehicles by 2029, of which 20 million will be built on the Volkswagen MEB electric vehicle platform, and the remaining 6 million will be built on the high-performance platform PPE.
At the same time, Volkswagen will launch about 60 hybrid models by 2029, with a sales target of 6 million. Volkswagen is planning to reorganize its Emden plant in Germany, producing an electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) from 2022 and will decide where to set up a new plant by the end of the year.
Diss said: "In the next few years, we will accelerate the pace of investment again. Hybrid models, electrification and digitization are becoming an increasingly important focus area."
In addition, it is worth noting that Volkswagen's investment in the Chinese market will not be included in the above five-year plan. Volkswagen's joint venture in China will use its resources to fund factories and products. Previously, Volkswagen announced that in China, by 2022, it will join hands with joint venture partners to directly invest about 15 billion euros in electric vehicles, autonomous driving, digital and new mobile travel services.
