The last few years have not been easy for the huge Volkswagen group. Still dealing with the consequences of the emissions scandal, the German group turned its course towards electric mobility and as one of the giants of the industry, future plans are dimensioned to its scale.
Speaking to Automobilwoche, Herbert Diess, the group's CEO, put forward a massive number for the group's electric futures, noting that he is ready to handle the production of 50 million electric(!) , having ensured the purchase of batteries for the future to be able to produce such a high number of electric ones.
A massive number, no doubt, but to be reached over several years, obvious — last year the group sold “only” 10.7 million vehicles, with much of it deriving from the MQB matrix.
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Securing battery supplies has been one of the biggest problems for manufacturers in the fast-paced race for electrification. There is simply not enough installed capacity to produce as many batteries for the anticipated demand, which could cause supply problems — something that is already happening today.
Target to shoot: Tesla
“We will have a very strong portfolio in electric cars”, declares Herbert Diess, as one of the ways to fight Tesla, already referred to by the Volkswagen group as the target to be shot down.In addition to a wider range of products distributed by various brands, the German group will fight Tesla on price, with recent news pushing prices from 20,000 euros for the most affordable model — Elon Musk's promise of the Model 3 to $35,000 (31 100 euros) is still to be fulfilled.
Consider the massive economies of scale possible in the industrial giant, and all numbers announced seem to be within reach of the German group.
In 2019, the first new generation electric
It will be in 2019 that we will meet the Neo (the name by which it is now known), a compact hatchback, similar to the Golf in dimensions, but with an interior space similar to that of a Passat. It is the advantage of an electrical architecture, which manages to gain a lot of longitudinal space by not having a combustion engine at the front.
MEB, the Volkswagen group's dedicated platform for electric vehicles, will also debut, and it will be from it that most of the 50 million announced electric vehicles will derive. In addition to the Neo compact, expect a saloon with dimensions similar to the Passat, a crossover and even a new “loaf bread”, with a passenger and commercial variant.