WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Volkswagen plans to invest about 22.8 billion euros in its core brand from 2018 to 2022, with main focus on e-mobility and modularization.
In a statement on Saturday, the German automaker announced that the investments, as part of the brand's Transform 2025+ strategy, will significantly boost the brand's largest product and technology offensive.
The news came a day after Volkswagen announced a 34 billion euros spending program aimed to strengthen its position as a maker of electric cars.
With the investments in core brand, the company's main focus will be on Germany, and on further development of modular production, the continuation of the model offensive and further orientation towards e-mobility.
Around 14 billion euros will be spent in German plants, with one of the key measures to be the 1 billion euros transformation of the carmaker's Zwickau plant into a pure e-mobility facility.
In the plant, the company will be concentrating the series production of its future electric vehicles based on the new modular electric drive kit or MEB in the initial stage. In 2020, the Volkswagen I.D., the first vehicle in the new generation of electric automobiles will be launched on the market.
The production volume on the launch of the Volkswagen I.D. is expected to be about 100,000 vehicles. At least 1 million Volkswagen electric cars are planned for 2025.
Further, production of the Volkswagen Golf and Passat in Zwickau will be relocated to Wolfsburg and Emden in the future. Volkswagen is investing 2.9 billion euros in Wolfsburg aiming to pool production of the next-generation Golf at the plant, among other items. At Emden, the company will invest 1.1 billion euros with a view to concentrating production of the Passat family at the plant from the end of 2018.
Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, said, 'The investment package which has now been adopted will give a decisive boost to the largest product and technology offensive in the history of the brand. It is our objective to position Volkswagen sustainably in the lead in the volume segments and to take up a leading position in e-mobility.'
On Friday, the company announced that it will invest billions for the development of electric mobility, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalization until 2022. Most of the investments will go into the electrification and hybridization of all Group models.
Volkswagen Group expects Brazil, China, Russia and North America to be the main growth drivers in the coming years.
CEO Matthias Müller said, 'With the planning round now approved, we are laying the foundation for making Volkswagen the world's number one player in electric mobility by 2025.... We are reinventing the car. To achieve that, we are making targeted investments to provide the necessary funds from our own resources.'
Volkswagen also said that its core brand is on track for success with the pact for the future. To date, 1.9 billion euros of efficiency savings have already been achieved, corresponding to 96 percent of the target set for 2017.
From 2020, Volkswagen brand's 'Transform 2025+' strategy is to have a positive impact of 3.7 billion euros per year on earnings, including 3 billion euros in Germany.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX