The Volkswagen Group has announced that it will invest 122,000 million euros between 2023 and 2027 in electrification and digitization, an effort that will be offset by lower spending on the development of internal combustion engines. In addition, the German company will also seek to expand its presence in the North American market, where it has more room for growth than in China and Europe.
“We have set clear and ambitious goals and have made the necessary decisions to streamline processes. [Este] It will be a decisive year for executing strategic objectives and accelerating progress across the group.”has declared the new CEO of the group, Oliver Blumeduring the manufacturer’s annual press conference.
“Battery electric cars accounted for a record 7% share of total deliveries [en 2022], an important milestone that we will build on this year as our popular model range continues to grow. Consistent with our ten-point plan, we have taken significant steps to execute our strategy, including new products for our brands, optimization of our platforms, and a revised software roadmap«.
More than two thirds of the budget for the next five years (180,000 million euros) will be allocated to electric vehicles and software, vs. 56% of the previous plan. The main difference with that one will be a greater investment in batteries, raw materials and the construction of a factory in South Carolina for the Scout brand. Because of all this, overall spending will increase by 13%.
Volkswagen will allocate more resources to the manufacture of batteries.
The group, which remains the leader in electric car sales in Europe, will allocate 15,000 million euros to the construction of its next battery gigafactories. In accordance with arno antlitzCFO and COO of the company, from the year 2025 electric cars will account for 20% of the company’s global sales, reaching 50% in 2030.
CHARITY, its software division, suffered an operating loss of 2,000 million euros, which has not jeopardized the good overall results. Volkswagen’s net profit stood at 14,867 million euros (+0.16%), while turnover amounted to 279,232 million (+11.6%) despite the fact that sales fell by 7% (8.26 million units) compared to the figures for 2021. Operating profit grew by 14.8% to 22,124 million euros and the operating margin increased two tenths of a percentage, reaching 7.9%.
Antlitz claims that “Fiscal year 2022 has impressively demonstrated the strength of our business model. Under challenging conditions, we delivered 572,100 battery electric cars and increased our overall revenue and operating profit. Fiscal year 2023 will be no less challenging in view of overall economic development.
However, our strong brands, with their compelling product offerings and an order book of around 1.8 million vehicles allow us to look to fiscal year 2023 with confidence. Our goal is to generate strong returns again in the current year. Our solid financial foundation puts us in a position to continue investing in the electrification and digitalization of our business, even in a challenging economic environment.”
