Volkswagen Clarifies on Electrification Strategy Amidst Rumors

TapTechNews May 20th news, according to Daily Economic News, relevant people from the Volkswagen brand told reporters today: It is not true that Volkswagen has given up on full electrification, and that (the strategy of fully developing pure electric models no longer exists) is incorrect.

Volkswagen said, While we are introducing models to meet the needs of different consumers, we are also fully advancing the electrification process. We always adhere to the electrification strategy. However, during the transformation process, due to the different paces of market development around the world, we must flexibly promote the powertrain layout.

TapTechNews attached the previous context:

Foreign media such as Bloomberg recently reported that the Volkswagen Group's strategy of fully developing all-electric vehicles no longer exists. As the market demand for pure electric models slows down, the Volkswagen brand may produce and sell more plug-in hybrid models, because the growth rate of the electric vehicle market is slowing down.

Relevant reports quoted the new head of the Volkswagen brand, Thomas Schäfer, as saying: Customers now want plug-in hybrid cars, including in China and the United States. In addition, Volkswagen has recently abandoned the plan to build a 2-billion-euro (TapTechNews note: currently about 15.7 billion yuan) electric vehicle factory in Germany and stopped looking for external investors for its battery subsidiary. However, Volkswagen still plans to build large battery factories in Spain and Canada.

The China Passenger Car Association announced the April manufacturer retail sales ranking not long ago. From the overall list, FAW and SAIC North-South Volkswagen both ranked among the TOP10, but if looking at the new energy manufacturers alone, there is no SAIC Volkswagen or FAW-Volkswagen in the TOP10 list.