Volkswagen pledges to build 800,000 EVs by end of 2022
Volkswagen has announced it will build 800,000 electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide by the end of the year as of both its environmental and financial strategy.
Head of sales Hildegard Wortmann said today EU electric car sales will increase from the 425,000 delivered last year despite total deliveries falling because of macroeconomic and geopolitical issues, including Covid-induced shortages.
The group expects it EV business to become as profitable as its fossil fuel one sooner than initially predicted.
“We expect that the e-mobility business will be as profitable as the combustion engine business earlier than planned,” chief executive Herbert Diess told shareholders during today’s annual general meeting.
“Through good crisis management, we are financially robust and have strengthened our resilience.”
The chief executive’s comment come a month after the automotive maker said it was reducing its diesel and fuel modes from 100 to 40 by 2030, while focusing on more profitable models such as Porsche.
Volkswagen’s EV push is part of its environmental strategy, On the Way to ZERO, which aims at increasing EV output to 70 per cent in Europe and 50 in North America and China by 2030.
However, the marquee is also focused on overtaking Tesla as the world’s largest EV maker by 2025.