All Press Releases

Inclusion, diversity and football – these were the three major topics discussed at the SPOBIS Conference in Hamburg. For the fifth time, the German Football Association (DFB) and its mobility partner Volkswagen organised a programme specially tailored to the 21 DFB regional associations for the largest sports business congress in Europe. Speakers at the ‘Inclusion in Football’ workshop included DFB Vice President Ralph-Uwe Schaffert, HSV President Marcell Jansen, the record-breaking international player of the national Blind Football team, Alexander Fangmann, and Sandra Waidelich, Head of Marketing & Sales Experience at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is trimming its Board of Management; subsequent to a pioneer phase for the “New Mobility” division, and in line with plans, the brand is integrating key elements of this division into Technical Development (TE). Led by Kai Grünitz, Volkswagen Brand Board Member for Technical Development, all development activities for future technologies and vehicle architectures (MEB and SSP) have already been bundled. The development division also steers development volumes for ICE model series (MQB). In future, responsibility for series technical project management will rest exclusively with TE. In the context of the brand’s performance program, this course of action supports the further optimization of development processes in Wolfsburg and helps shorten development times. New software development processes for electric vehicles based on the MEB were specifically tested and established in the “New Mobility” division. The transfer of these activities to the MQBevo has already taken place as planned, and the “New Mobility” division’s mission has been accomplished. Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen Brand Board Member for “New Mobility” since 2022, has been named the Volkswagen Group’s Head of Development in China effective April 1, 2024.

Volkswagen started the anniversary year of the Golf in a very sporty and spectacular way at the Ice Race in Zell am See (Austria). The new Golf, which will be launched in time for its 50th birthday this year, had its public premiere at the traditional motorsport event on ice and snow. Volkswagen also provided a first impression of its sportiest model: the Golf R – camouflaged, with all-wheel drive and unmistakably R. The future flagship Golf model will celebrate its world premiere in mid-2024.

The Golf, the icon: the most-built Volkswagen is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. To kick off the anniversary year, the Golf I and one of its predecessors from 1969 can be seen at the Bremen Classic Motorshow (Germany). The Golf has moved and impressed the masses since 1974. And with every generation, the compact car has revolutionised and democratised the automotive world.

The Golf is celebrating its 50th birthday this year – and Volkswagen is launching an enhanced version of its bestseller to mark the anniversary. Customers will be able to order the new model in just a few weeks. The new Golf impresses with a next-generation infotainment system, a more intuitive operating concept, a sharper front and rear end design as well as efficient drive systems. These include plug-in hybrid drives with an increased all-electric range of about 100 kilometres. In addition, an illuminated Volkswagen logo adorns the front for the first time on a Golf.

The Volkswagen brand significantly increased its deliveries last year, with: around 4.87 million vehicles handed over to customers worldwide. The figures exceeded the previous year’s numbers in all regions. In total, the increase in deliveries was 6.7 per cent. Demand for electric mobility also grew: Volkswagen handed over about 394,000 fully electric vehicles to customers worldwide in 2023, which corresponds to an increase of 21.1 per cent compared to the previous year.

At CES 2024, the world's leading electronics trade fair held from 9 to 12 January, Volkswagen will present the first vehicles in which the artificial-intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT is integrated into its IDA voice assistant. In future, customers will have seamless access to the constantly growing artificial intelligence database in all Volkswagen models equipped with the IDA voice assistant and have researched content read out to them while driving. Cerence Chat Pro from technology partner Cerence Inc. is the foundation of the new function, which offers a uniquely intelligent, automotive-grade ChatGPT integration. Volkswagen will be the first volume manufacturer to offer Chat GPT as a standard feature from the second quarter of 2024 in many production vehicles.

Volkswagen Financial Services are electrifying the fleet of Siemens AG together with the Volkswagen brand: the company's fleet will be gradually supplemented with up to 1,000 leased Volkswagen ID.4 vehicles. These all-electric vehicles are part of the electrification and sustainability strategy pursued by Siemens, one of the largest and longest established industrial companies in Germany.

The Golf is the heart of the Volkswagen brand – and it stands for the term “bestseller” like hardly any other model. More than 37 million vehicles have been sold in eight generations. Volkswagen is celebrating the popular model to mark its 50th birthday next year. After all, the Golf has not only shaped mobility in Germany, but also in many other regions all over the world. However, the company is not just looking back as part of the birthday celebrations: the world premiere of the new Golf will take place already at the end of January – and like its predecessors, it will bring numerous innovations into series production.

The Volkswagen brand has achieved an important milestone in the “Accelerate Forward/ Road to 6.5” global performance program, with management and employee representatives reaching agreement on key points to streamline the company, following intensive negotiations. The objective of the three-year program is to secure the Volkswagen Group’s core brand competitiveness, ensure it is future-proof and sustainable in the long term. The Volkswagen brand aims to make a positive earnings contribution totaling ten billion euros by 2026, also to offset negative effects such as inflation and higher raw material costs. The operating return on sales is expected to improve sustainably to 6.5 percent in 2026. The Volkswagen brand projects that the program will deliver positive earnings contributions of up to four billion euros as early as 2024. To achieve this, the Company concentrates on performance-enhancing and cost-saving measures in the program’s three focus areas: optimizing material and product costs, reducing fixed and manufacturing costs and increasing revenues. The Company and the employee representatives have also reached agreement on staff reduction measures to cut personnel and labor costs. These measures will apply throughout Volkswagen AG. As such, from January 2024 the Company will extend its partial retirement schemes to all employees born in 1967 (and for severely handicapped employees born in 1968), to reduce administrative staff costs in particular. The current hiring freeze and access freeze to the Tarif Plus salary group will continue until further notice.