Original title: Diess shareholders meeting expressed its determination: to engage in autonomous driving with Bosch, and plan to launch 8 pure electric vehicles in the United States
Author |way
Edit |Wood rice
On the contrary, operating profit excluding special items reached 20 billion euros (about 140 billion yuan), almost doubling compared to 2020.
In the next year, Volkswagen plans to expand its influence in the electric vehicle market and take more market share of electric vehicles by improving in terms of car production, battery production, charging station construction and autonomous driving.
1. Increased sales of pure electric vehicles Plan to launch 8 pure electric models in the United States
At present, Volkswagen has successfully promoted its electric vehicles in core markets.
In Europe, Volkswagen Group pure electric vehicles account for 25% of the electric vehicle market. In addition, in the United States, Volkswagen’s share of the pure electric market last year was about 8%, which is about twice the market share of its internal combustion engine. It can be seen that Volkswagen’s pure electric vehicles are more popular with Americans than gas vehicles. And more than two-thirds of the nation’s 17,000 ID. 4 buyers are new Volkswagen customers. Therefore, this year Volkswagen Group plans to launch eight pure electric models in the United States to meet market demand.
▲ID. 4
In addition, in China, Volkswagen’s largest sales market, Volkswagen delivered about 93,000 electric vehicles last year, more than four times the number of deliveries in 2020. Moreover, Volkswagen has opened a total of 120 ID. series sales stores in major cities in China.
Diess said that in 2026, Volkswagen will also produce all-electric pickup trucks and SUVs in the United States, and VW official media has released sketches of the new cars.
▲Announcement of Volkswagen Group
Diess added that VW’s electric vehicle business is growing faster than they expected and will soon be as profitable as its gasoline-powered business. Because they’re rolling out EV kits, building more and more production plants, and selling their technology to rivals like Ford.
2. Six battery factories will be built, and charging will be uniformly priced
In the process of electrification transformation, Volkswagen will continue to improve platform reusability, improve battery technology, and expand the scale of battery factories.
Volkswagen plans to produce 40 million vehicles on the SSP platform (Scalable Systems Platform), which requires reducing the complexity of vehicle production. Volkswagen has already replaced more than 30 parts with one large casting in the Kassel pilot project. Currently, Volkswagen is studying this process for the Volkswagen Trinity car.
In addition, Volkswagen also plans to build a third battery factory in Valencia, Spain, and now has two battery factories in Skellefteå, Sweden and Salzgitter, Germany. By 2030, adding these three battery factories, Volkswagen will build six battery factories.
At the same time, Volkswagen and BP (British Petroleum) jointly launched the first charging station in Düsseldorf, Germany. The two companies plan to build 8,000 charging stations across European countries by the end of 2024. In addition, Volkswagen will introduce a fixed pricing model for mass-produced brands at more than 300,000 charging points.
3. Cooperate with Bosch to develop self-driving shuttles
In addition to hardware improvements, Volkswagen has also made improvements in software.
Last year, Volkswagen hired 1,000 developers for key software technology platforms. Currently, these employees are advancing the development of the group’s autonomous driving software stack. In addition, Volkswagen has further increased its expertise by acquiring other technology companies from camera software maker Hella Aglaia.
In addition, Volkswagen is working with Bosch to jointly promote the development of autonomous driving. Diess said, “100% self-developed software is a completely new approach, which requires two life cycles. For the automotive industry, it may take 15 years.”
In terms of the technology platform for mobility solutions, Volkswagen will partner with Agro AI to start a trial run of an autonomous shuttle in Munich. Volkswagen’s automatic shuttle service in Hamburg will start in 2025.
In addition, Volkswagen also plans to complete the acquisition of Europcar in the second quarter of 2022. This will lay the foundation for the Group’s future mobile platform. One app will enable customers to easily and conveniently access a variety of mobility services, from micro-mobility and car sharing for a few minutes to rental cars for longer periods of time.
▲Volkswagen Group is building a travel platform
Conclusion: Volkswagen electrification is progressing rapidly
The transformation of traditional car companies often encounters many internal difficulties, resulting in slow progress. However, in the process of transformation, the public has developed rapidly. Of course, this is also inseparable from years of accumulation.
However, the performance of Volkswagen in all aspects is really remarkable. Although it lags behind Tesla now, it has to be said that Volkswagen has a clear layout in car production, battery production, basic software and autonomous driving software development. .
If the subsequent plans can really be implemented, then the public can be regarded as a successful transformation. However, if the subsequent landings cannot keep up in time, it may go downhill.
