2016 is shaping up to be a tumultuous year for the Volkswagen Group, with shockwaves from the EA189 diesel engine emissions cheating scandal still rocking through the company.
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Volkswagen is planning to launch a massive eco-friendly product offensive with 30 all-electric cars in order to rebrand itself as a leader in the zero-emissions vehicle market.
Matthias Mueller, chief executive of the German auto maker, said electric vehicles, self-driving cars and shared ownership will play a major role in the company’s future.
But a lack of detail in the programme, dubbed “TOGETHER – Strategy 2025”, left some analysts cold, and Volkswagen (VW) shares fell as much as 4.3 percent.
Acknowledging the difficulty Volkswagen has in winning back pubic confidence in the marque, Mr Mueller, at a news conference held at the company’s Wolfsburg headquarters, added: “Our most valuable currency is trust”. The group is planning a broad-based initiative in this area: “it intends to launch more than 30 purely battery-powered electric vehicles over the next ten years”, he said.
Volkswagen went into crisis a year ago when it was revealed that several of its diesel engines had been fitted with “defeat devices” that could alter the results of emissions tests.
Ride-hailing division Another part of VW’s “Strategy 2025” would be to set up a brand new “cross-brand mobility solutions business”, Mueller announced.
Mr Mueller said the transformation would involve investments in the double-digit billions of euros, funded by savings and cost cuts.
“Volkswagen has always enriched the lives of millions of people all over the world with its brands and products”. VW also planned to become a “global champion” in the commercial vehicles business, where it owns the Scania, MAN and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands.
VW said its plan aimed to improve its operating return on sales before one-off items to 7-8 percent by 2025 from 6 percent in 2015. Mueller said VW planned to “realign” its components business, which now accounts for around 67,000 employees at 26 locations worldwide.
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Investors still sceptical But analysts at DZ Bank said they remained sceptical.
