VW promises higher focus on EVs after record sales year

The Volkswagen Group “will be a role model in environmental protection, safety and integrity,” according to CEO Matthias Muller, who was speaking as the firm confirmed a record-breaking sales year in 2016.

Outlining plans for the firm to reinvent itself as a far-reaching mobility company in the wake of the emission scandal, Muller revealed that the VW Group sold 10.3 million cars in 2016, making it the world’s largest car manufacturer. It made £6.2 billion in profit after allowances, including £5.6 billion of losses to cover emission scandal costs. In 2015, expenses relating to emission scandal amounted to £14.2 billion.

Most notably, its sales in China, where the effects of the diesel crisis were negligible, grew 12.2 percent and its 2016 sales revenues of £190.4 billion also exceeded forecasts by £3.5 billion.

“The last year was challenging yet remarkably successful,” said Muller. “In 2016 we set the course for the biggest transformation in the history of the company, while at the same time performing better in our operating business than many thought possible…Volkswagen is back on track.”

Muller vowed that the success would be a catalyst for further change, adding: “We will still be one of the most successful automakers in 2025. But we will also be a leading international provider of sustainable mobility and set the standard for new mobility services.”

New initiatives include a stated goal of taking leadership in the field of battery technology by 2025, which is by when the VW Group has committed to have solid state batteries in production. These are seen as the next technological step over the lithium-ion batteries currently favoured by most manufacturers. The VW Group has committed to have 30 battery-electric vehicles on sale by 2025. 

He also signalled that Audi had been tasked with leading the Group’s autonomous driving projects, while adding that the VW Group now had 37 centres around the world working on autonomous and digital service ideas, pivoting around the Group’s new mobility company, Moia, which was set up last year.

Muller also highlighted recent joint ventures – in China with FAW and JAC, the latter of which will lead to the co-development of a budget electric car line; in India with Tata Motors; and in America with Navistar, which is in the commercial vehicle segment – as examples of the firm’s commitment to forging partnerships to boost sales success. He also confirmed that the first economy vehicles to be developed by the brand will go on sale in emerging markets in 2018.

Jim Holder