With our enhanced “ACCELERATE” strategy, we are initiating the next phase of this transformation. The fight against climate change, the increasing pace of innovation in our industry and new competitors present us with major challenges. That is why we are increasing the speed and changing Volkswagen more radically than ever before.
Strategy
Five years ago, we launched the transformation of the Volkswagen brand: With the TRANSFORM 2025+ strategy, the company has completely realigned itself. We have renewed our model range from the ground up. Volkswagen has made a clear commitment to e-drive vehicles. We are already on our way to CO₂-neutral mobility for all!
Until 2030, we want to increase the share of all-electric cars in Europe to 70 percent of our sales. In this way, we aim to significantly exceed the planned EU regulation. In the U.S. and China, we want to increase the share of e-cars to 50 percent by 2030. We are accelerating our pace, producing large volumes and covering all segments. In this way, we are positioning the Volkswagen brand as the global market leader for climate-neutral e-mobility.
But anyone who believes that the e-car alone will take us into the future is mistaken. The real gamechanger is digitalization. Electrification, software-defined products, new business models and autonomous driving – these four major forces are driving the future development of vehicles. The Volkswagen brand is driving change by developing software and the digital customer experience into core competencies, tapping into additional revenues through data-based services in the use phase of cars, and making autonomous driving more widespread between now and 2030. Because autonomous driving must not become the privilege of a few.
All the things Volkswagen has planned for the future will be brought to life for customers for the first time with Trinity in 2026. The vehicle will set new standards in three areas: technology, business model 2.0 and radically new production approaches.
Just as we have boldly moved forward on the topic of e-mobility, we are also taking a bold approach to the other issues of the future.
The Volkswagen brand is investing around 18 billion euros in e-mobility, hybridization and digitalization by 2026. To manage these investments, we aim to achieve a sustainable operating margin of at least 6 percent by 2023.
Volkswagen will change from the ground up. The brand will stand for climate-friendly e-mobility like no other, for fascinating digital customer experiences, for new business models and for autonomous driving across the board. Over the past few years, we have built a strong starting point. With “ACCELERATE”, we are now giving the digitalization of the brand a further boost.
Press releases
-
One year of ACCELERATE strategy: Volkswagen strengthens efficiency and speeds up transformation
Volkswagen made good progress in its transformation into a tech company in the first year of its ACCELERATE strategy. Important milestones were achieved in 2021 with respect to the key elements of e-mobility, digitalization and new business models. At the same time, the company gave a sustained boost to efficiency in a challenging competitive environment: There was an appreciable increase in sales revenue, return and operating profit in the last fiscal year despite significantly lower unit sales. -
Volkswagen and Ford expand collaboration on MEB electric platform
Ford Motor Company and the Volkswagen Group are expanding their e-mobility partnership. Ford plans to produce another electric model for the European market based on the MEB platform. The automaker will also double its planned MEB volume to 1.2 million units over a six-year timeframe. The agreement was signed as part of the strategic alliance between Volkswagen and Ford, which includes e-mobility, commercial vehicles and autonomous driving. Designed as an open vehicle platform, the MEB (Modular Electric Toolkit) allows car manufacturers to electrify their portfolio quickly and cost-effectively. -
Go-ahead for new Trinity plant: Milestone for the future of the Wolfsburg production location
Volkswagen has reached another milestone in its transformation journey: A new manufacturing facility for the Trinity electric model is to be built close to the main plant in Wolfsburg, with investment totaling some €2 billion. The Group’s Supervisory Board passed a resolution to this effect today. The new Trinity factory is a key component of the largest modernization program in the history of Volkswagen’s main location. Construction work in the Warmenau district of Wolfsburg is to begin as early as spring 2023 and will take account of building and environmental law. In so doing, the new site will meet high environmental standards. To that end, Volkswagen will engage in an intensive exchange with the relevant authorities as well as with stakeholders. The net carbon-neutral Trinity model, built using the most innovative manufacturing methods, is to roll off the assembly line from 2026. The new facility with its optimized processes will therefore become a model for the gradual transformation of production at the main Wolfsburg plant along with all other Volkswagen manufacturing sites worldwide. -
Volkswagen realigns Technical Development: shorter product cycles and faster digital offerings
In its drive to become a technology company, Volkswagen is realigning its Technical Development (TD) division in Wolfsburg. This involves turning the Group’s largest engineering unit with 11,500 employees into a pace-setter for the Volkswagen brand’s transformation into a technology company. The main emphasis is on a complete redesign of the development process, making it interdisciplinary, focused squarely on software, customer requirements and SSP, Volkswagen’s electric platform of the future, and centered on functions rather than individual components. This is expected to cut development time by about a quarter, increase the speed of new software releases and also significantly accelerate manufacturing processes in production. TD will thus become an important pillar for the transformation of development for the Group. -
Volkswagen Passenger Cars again significantly exceeds European CO2 fleet targets for 2021
Based on preliminary figures, Volkswagen Passenger Cars has exceeded the ambitious European CO2 fleet targets for 2021 and produced around 5.5 million grams fewer CO2 than required by law. The passenger car fleet of new vehicles in the European Union achieved average CO2 emissions of 113 g/km – the legal CO2 target for the brand was 119 g/km. In 2021, the realistic WLTP standard replaced the old NEDC. Volkswagen had already over-fulfilled the targets for 2020. -
Planning Round 70: Volkswagen drives forward electrification of its European plants and presents its plan for transforming the Wolfsburg site
Within the framework of Planning Round 70, the Volkswagen Group today resolved to further electrify its European plants in pursuit of its goal of becoming global market leader in electric mobility by 2025. Thus, the Group vigorously drives forward the implementation of its NEW AUTO strategy. The Group headquarters and manufacturing site in Wolfsburg will be transformed and the Group’s competitiveness boosted through higher spending on future technologies. The future-oriented investments, which will be primarily in e-mobility and digitalization, will account for the largest proportion of total investments of EUR 159 billion for the first time, at 56 percent or EUR 89 billion. Volkswagen expects that by 2026 one in four vehicles sold will have a battery-electric drive system. -
Volkswagen to invest some €1 billion by 2026 – South America region to be geared to sustained profitability
Despite the continuing challenges of the corona pandemic and the worldwide semiconductor shortage, Volkswagen expects to report a positive result in Latin America for the first time since 2013. Volkswagen is to invest some €1 billion over the next five years to further strengthen its competitive situation in this important market and be geared to sustained profitability. In addition to further local vehicle projects, in particular digitalization and decarbonization in South America are to be given an additional boost. This includes a research center for biofuels as a bridging technology for this market to complement Volkswagen’s global electrification offensive. -
Volkswagen and TraceTronic establish neocx – a joint venture for automated software integration
Volkswagen is strengthening its expertise in the integration of automotive software. At present, high-performance automotive functions can only be achieved by networking many individual software and hardware components. Integrating these components and testing the resulting assembly is a key development task for Volkswagen. As part of its ACCELERATE strategy, Volkswagen is seeking to grow automotive software integration and the digital customer experience as core competencies. The company has therefore established a joint venture with TraceTronic, a world-leading provider of solutions to test and integrate automotive software. Each partner holds 50 percent in the joint venture, named neocx, which will create a continuous integration/continuous testing (CI/CT) factory. -
NEW AUTO: Volkswagen Group set to unleash value in battery-electric autonomous mobility world
Volkswagen presented its plan for transforming the Group into a software-driven mobility company with a strong focus on its powerful brands and global technology platforms, providing synergies and scale as well as opening up new profit pools. “We set ourselves a strategic target to become global market leader in electric vehicles – and we are well on track. Now we are setting new parameters,” said CEO Herbert Diess during the presentation of NEW AUTO, the Group’s strategy through 2030. “Based on software, the next much more radical change is the transition towards much safer, smarter and finally autonomous cars. That means for us: Technology, speed and scale will matter more than today. The future of cars will be bright!” -
Volkswagen’s Supervisory Board welcomes new Group strategy – New service contract for Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Herbert Diess
Dr. Herbert Diess will stay at the helm of the Volkswagen Group until October 2025. On Friday, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG approved a new service contract with a corresponding term. This means that Dr. Diess will remain the Chairman of the Board of Management until his 67th birthday. The Supervisory Board was also informed of Strategy 2030 on Friday, and sees this strategy as the basis for future growth. -
Volkswagen launches sales offensive for the German market
Volkswagen intends to durably improve its good position in Germany in a strong competitive environment with a three-year boost program. Up to the end of 2023, the company will be investing a triple-digit million-euro figure in the expansion of digital and showroom sales in the German market. “Germany is our home market. We will be providing a further significant boost to sales here and will be making Germany a model for other markets, also with respect to digitalization,” says Klaus Zellmer, Board Member for Sales, Marketing and After Sales at Volkswagen. “With ACCELERATE, we intend to make Volkswagen the most attractive brand for sustainable mobility. This also includes an excellent customer experience during the purchasing, leasing or servicing of a Volkswagen. We want to set standards in this area.” -
Way to Zero: Volkswagen presents roadmap for climate-neutral mobility
At the first Way to Zero Convention, Volkswagen today gave details of its plans for decarbonizing the company and its products. The company intends to be net carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. A new interim milestone is the targeted 40-percent reduction in CO2 emissions per vehicle in Europe by 2030 – substantially outperforming the Group target of 30 percent (baseline: 2018). As a result, an average Volkswagen would emit around 17 tons less carbon dioxide. As well as accelerating the transition to e-mobility, the production (including supply chain) and operation of electric cars is to be made net carbon neutral. Added to this is the systematic recycling of the high-voltage batteries from old electric vehicles. -
New Chief Strategy Officer at Volkswagen
Andreas Walingen, currently head of Group Product Strategy, will become Chief Strategy Officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand effective May 1, 2021. In this function, he succeeds Michael Jost, who is leaving the Volkswagen Group to devote time to his own projects. In addition to leading Group Strategy Product, Michael Jost also holds the position of Chief Strategy Officer of the Volkswagen brand. -
Volkswagen lays the foundations for success in 2021
Volkswagen again invested heavily in future technologies in 2020, spending a total of EUR 2.7 billion during a year overshadowed by Covid-19. The brand is thus laying the foundations for getting its new ACCELERATE strategy off to a successful start. The first milestones will be achieved this year. Volkswagen anticipates a big e-mobility push, with over 450,000 electric vehicles being delivered to customers in 2021, more than double the 2020 figure. Digitalization is being continuously driven forward and Volkswagen will reach the first customers with its business model 2.0 by the summer: testing with subscription models and optional additional functions on demand will begin in six German cities. The brand also expects this to generate hundreds of millions of euros in revenue over the coming years. Online vehicle sales will also start in the summer. -
Project Trinity: With high range, extremely short charging times and revolutionary production, the sedan will launch in 2026
Volkswagen is giving a first design preview of Project Trinity: The electrically powered sedan is to be built in Wolfsburg from 2026 and will set new standards in terms of range, charging speed and digitization – and will be able to drive highly automated according to Level 4. -
Volkswagen is accelerating transformation into software-driven mobility provider
Volkswagen is accelerating its transformation into a software-driven mobility provider. By rolling out the ACCELERATE strategy that it has just unveiled, the company will systematically prepare for the profound changes in the automotive industry in good time. Just as Volkswagen resolutely led the way with its global electric offensive, now it is also accelerating the other big issues of the future: integration of software into the vehicle and the digital customer experience will become crucial core competencies. In implementing data-based business models, the company is seeking to attract new groups of customers and tap additional sources of income. Volkswagen also will make autonomous driving available to many people before the end of the decade. “E-mobility was just the beginning: the real disruption has yet to come. With our strategy we will ACCELERATE towards the digital future,” said Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of Volkswagen. “In the coming years, we will change Volkswagen as never before.” -
Volkswagen Supervisory Board agrees on management positions and reorganisation of Group Board – stronger focus on costs planned
During its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG dealt extensively with the Together 2025+ strategy and, in connection with this, a realignment of personnel. The Board unanimously resolved to give its full support to the strategy, in particular the orientation of the company towards electromobility and digitalisation. This results in the following realignment of personnel resolved by the Supervisory Board: -
Volkswagen Group raises investments in future technologies to EUR 73 billion
The Volkswagen Group is pressing ahead with its transformation into a digital mobility company. As decided in Planning Round 69, the Group will spend around EUR 73 billion on electrification, hybrid powertrains and digital technology over the next five years. This was announced following today’s Supervisory Board meeting. Investments in Capex and R&D for future technologies will be raised to 50 percent from 40 percent of the Group’s total investments of around EUR 150 billion. Investments in digitalization will double to EUR 27 billion by mid-decade, reflecting the Group’s strong focus on building up software capabilities. Approximately EUR 35 billion will be spent on battery-electric vehicles. A further approximately EUR 11 billion has been earmarked for the development of hybrid vehicles of existing models. -
Volkswagen making good headway with transformation
The Volkswagen brand will be launching 34 new models worldwide next year, including twelve SUVs and eight electric or hybrid vehicles. Volkswagen COO Ralf Brandstätter commented: “We are at the beginning of a new era. We mean business with e-mobility. The brand will be investing €19 billion in future technologies through 2024, €11 billion alone in the further development of e-mobility. And Volkswagen starts the biggest electric offensive in the automotive industry next year: The ID.3 goes on sale in the summer, soon followed by the ID.Next, our first electric SUV. Our ID. family makes emission-free mobility accessible to many people for the first time. That is New Volkswagen.” -
‘Project Qatar Mobility’: Self-driving shuttles set to take Doha's local public transport to the next level in 2022
For the first time ever a cutting-edge fleet of self-driving Level 4 electric shuttles will usher in a new era of urban mobility in a capital city in 2022: Earlier today in Doha, representatives of Volkswagen AG and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) signed the ‘Project Qatar Mobility’. The goal is to develop a ground-breaking autonomous transport project and transform the future of urban mobility to a sustainable and commercial deployment of AD shuttles and bus services – even beyond 2022. Fostering a cross-brand collaboration as blueprint for future Autonomous Driving (AD) solutions, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania, MOIA and AID-Autonomous Intelligent Driving will play an important role in this project. During the largest sporting event in the world, Qatar will thus be the venue for the world’s first emission-free, electric and autonomous public transport system. -
Volkswagen confirms strategic financial targets of Together 2025+
The Volkswagen Group has in principle confirmed the strategic targets set out in its strategy Together 2025+ for operating return on sales, return on investment, capex ratio and R&D cost ratio, net cashflow and net liquidity within the Planning Round 68. “We are continuing to pursue our ambitious strategic financial targets for 2020 and 2025. We also confirm our outlook for 2019. The Volkswagen Group remains very robust in the face of increasingly difficult economic conditions. However, we will have to apply systematic cost discipline to reach our long-term goals,” Frank Witter, the member of the Volkswagen Group Board of Management responsible for Finance and IT, said in describing the impact of Planning Round 68 on the strategic financial targets. -
Volkswagen investing strongly in the future
The Volkswagen Group is continuing to invest strongly in its future. As part of Planning Round 68, the investment plan for 2020 to 2024* has been drawn up. The plan was dis-cussed during today’s meeting of the Supervisory Board and approved. The Group plans to spend nearly EUR 60 billion on the future areas of hybridization, electric mobility and digitalization in the next five years. This amounts to slightly more than 40 percent of the company’s investments in property, plant and equipment and all research and development costs during the planning period. Compared with the Group’s last Planning Round, it represents an increase of around 10 percentage points. The Group intends to invest around EUR 33 billion of this figure in electric mobility alone. -
Productivity in plants is increasing more than expected
The Volkswagen brand is well on its way to achieving its own goals for more cost-effective vehicle production. Following the launch of the new production strategy TRANSFORM.TOGETHER last year, initial successes are now emerging. Board member for production and logistics Andreas Tostmann commented the interim review with 500 leading managers at an international conference: "The figures demonstrate that our strategy is working. In 2019, our productivity will have improved by more than 6 percent. And for the first time since 2013, we lowered the costs per vehicle in production. The workforce did an extraordinary great job here and I thank them very much for their achievements. We have demonstrated team spirit, and with our new models we managed strong and smooth starts of production. With great competence, our colleagues consistently contribute to increasing production efficiency and productivity. We will continue along our chosen path. Especially in a time of global economic uncertainties, we are well advised to make ourselves crisis-proof. To do what is in our hands so we are prepared for what is not in our hands. " -
Volkswagen Group Research becomes Volkswagen Group Innovation
International network of ideas, continuous cooperation with all brands and drivers of expertise: Volkswagen Group Research has been an incubator for innovative vehicle and mobility solutions for 50 years now. It has been consistently restructured and positioned to further enhance its technological leadership. An international, comprehensive research approach lies at the core of what is now “Volkswagen Group Innovation” – with shared responsibilities at new Innovation Centers. The future-oriented alignment within the innovation fields of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, solid-state energy systems and autonomous driving drives this turnaround as a transformation initiative within the context of Volkswagen’s TOGETHER 2025+ strategy. -
China plays key role in Volkswagen Group’s e-mobility strategy
China will play a key role in the Volkswagen group’s global transformation and its accompanying decarbonization program. Thus, this year will see an intensified roll-out of new energy models. Volkswagen Group China aims to produce more than half of the group’s global objective of 22 million BEVs by 2028. To speed up its e-offensive, it will also launch a new joint venture in charging infrastructure. All this will lay the foundation for wide acceptance of e-mobility. Meanwhile, in the area of future technologies, Volkswagen Group China is combining its research power, with Volkswagen brand, Audi and Group R&D working together within the new ONE R&D structure. -
Volkswagen brand steps up pace of transformation
Volkswagen will be boosting the pace of its transformation following a solid fiscal year 2018. The brand is taking important steps this year to strengthen competitiveness on a sustained basis. This includes the start of the electric offensive, efficiency measures in production and further progress in productivity and margins. At the same time, the brand is rolling out an earnings improvement program aimed at achieving a sustained contribution of €5.9 billion from 2023. Measures include reducing complexity and optimizing material costs. The program will gradually start delivering results in the period from 2019 to 2022. Furthermore, efficiencies in administration are to be leveraged by a stronger focus on process digitalization. Furthermore, efficiencies in administration are to be leveraged by a stronger focus on process digitalization. -
Volkswagen develops automotive industry in Ethiopia
Volkswagen brand continues its engagement in emerging countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the presence of Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Thomas Schaefer, Head of the Volkswagen Sub-Saharan Africa Region, and the Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Abebe Abebayehu, today. Thereby, Volkswagen is taking the fast development of the country into account. Over the last ten years, the GDP growth rate in Ethiopia was above 8 percent – one of the highest worldwide. Moreover, Ethiopia is a priority and focus country for Germany under the G20-“Compact with Africa” initiative. -
Volkswagen brand to speed up operating return
The Volkswagen brand is to significantly improve its earnings performance in the coming years in order to finance investments in future technologies from its own resources. To this end, the model portfolio is being streamlined and the number of variants reduced. At the same time, productivity at the plants is to be increased and the platform orientation for vehicle production extended. Optimizing material costs is to contribute significantly to achieving the target return – without detracting from product substance. Administration processes will become even leaner. “We must force the pace of our transformation and become more efficient and agile. We cannot let up in our efforts and must realize further substantial improvements. What we have achieved so far is still not enough,” said Ralf Brandstätter, the brand’s Chief Operating Officer responsible for day-to-day business. -
Charge your electric car while you shop: Volkswagen and Tesco now partners in the UK
Volkswagen is working to develop areawide charging infrastructure for electric cars. This is why the brand has embarked on a strategic partnership with the Tesco supermarket chain in the UK. Over the next three years, more than 2,400 electric vehicle charging bays are to be rolled out at 600 Tesco stores. The cooperation will create the largest electric vehicle charging network in the British retail sector. The stations are to be operated by Volkswagen and Pod Point, one of the leading providers of charging infrastructure in the UK. -
Volkswagen nominates further battery cell supplier
With the South Korean battery cell manufacturer SK Innovation (SKI), the Volkswagen Group has named a further strategic supplier for electric vehicles based on the Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB). SKI will supply the batteries for North America and a share of the batteries for the production of Volkswagen Group full-electric vehicles in Europe. The most important strategic suppliers of battery cells for the equipment of the Group’s rapidly glowing electric fleet in the major regions of the world have therefore been nominated. -
Volkswagen targeting further boost in factory productivity
The Volkswagen brand’s TRANSFORM.TOGETHER production strategy targets a 30 percent increase in productivity worldwide by 2025 compared to 2018. Production is therefore making a major contribution to achieving the profitability target of over 6 percent for the brand. “We want to rank among the best for productivity. We need to generate competitive returns to enable us to make key investments in the future and thus safeguard today’s jobs tomorrow and beyond. Together, we are ushering in a new era in Production for the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. This is about nothing less than a paradigm shift: from a product-oriented company to a production-and process-oriented company. For Prodution, that means our department will be more important than ever going forward”, Dr. Andreas Tostmann, the Volkswagen Brand Board Member for Production, commented at an event held at the Berlin Motorwerk location attended by 500 managers from Volkswagen’s 17 vehicle manufacturing plants. -
Volkswagen’s digital transformation gathers speed
Volkswagen in transition: the company is speeding up the development of its ecosystem with its own software know-how and the strength of external partners. The automobile will evolve into a central hub in the Internet of Things. -
Volkswagen AG, Ford to Explore Strategic Alliance to Extend Capabilities, Strengthen Competitiveness, Better Serve Customers
Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Company today announce they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and are exploring a strategic alliance designed to strengthen each company’s competitiveness and better serve customers globally. -
Successful financial year 2017: Volkswagen brand implements product and innovation offensive consistently
The Volkswagen brand can look back on a successful financial year in 2017. The brand sold 6.23 million vehicles and improved sales revenue to €80 billion. For the first time in five years, the operating result before special items increased, reaching the highest level since 2012, at €3.3 billion. The return on sales (before special items) improved from 1.8 percent in 2016 to 4.1 percent. The Volkswagen brand has therefore outperformed its targets for 2017. -
Volkswagen makes rapid progress in realigning its North American strategy
The Volkswagen brand continues to vigorously pursue its regional consolidation strategy in North America: Today Volkswagen launched the seventh generation of its most successful high-volume model in the region when the new Jetta celebrated its world premiere on the eve of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Jetta is tailored precisely to the needs of customers in North America.
Stories
All-green electric: The ID. Family goes carbon-neutral
Volkswagen has committed itself to the Paris climate agreement. Which is why the company delivers ID. Family vehicles to customers with a carbon-neutral balance. In order that electric vehicles remain carbon-neutral during their usage phase, they must be charged with green electricity. To ensure that this is in good supply, Volkswagen supports investments in the generation of additional green electricity.
„The efficiency of pure battery-electric vehicles is much higher” (Frank Welsch)
Battery-powered or hydrogen-powered electric cars? In Germany, this controversy never seems to come to an end. But the facts are clear. We explain the significant advantages of the electric drive over the fuel cell according to latest research. And why Volkswagen’s decision to push e-mobility forward is absolutely right.
Zwickau: flagship of e-mobility
Angela Merkel was a witness today, on 4th of November, when Volkswagen finally entered the age of e-mobility. In the presence of the German Chancellor and Volkswagen CEO Herbert, the first ID.3 production vehicle rolled off the assembly line in Zwickau, in the Free State of Saxony.
"We are in the first wave of transformation"
Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from Duisburg’s CAR-Center Automotive Research is one of the best-known automotive experts. In an interview, he talks about the upheaval in the industry, the prospects for e-mobility and Germany as an automotive location.
New Volkswagen – how does a global brand reinvent itself?
New drive technology, new design, new logo. Volkswagen practically reinvented itself last year. “New Volkswagen” is an expression of this.
How we are expanding our model range
The year 2019 was dominated by transformation and product offensives. Volkswagen is thus pursuing the major goal of transforming its fleet to e-mobility while at the same time, further expanding its market share and profitability.
Electromobility: Why we are focusing on E
With the ID.3, Volkswagen is ushering in a new era – that of mass electric mobility.