Partly due to ‘dieselgate’, VW now plans 70 new electric models by 2028 rather than 50 and aims for ‘slightly’ higher unit sales overall in 2019
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess poses before the annual press conference at the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg, northern Germany, on March 12 2019. Picture: AFP/TOBIAS SCHWARZammoth German car maker Volkswagen massively expanded its plans for electric-car sales in the coming decade, as its scramble to meet tougher greenhouse gas emissions targets has already begun weighing on profitability.
Audi, Porsche and VW — the group’s best-known brands — all suffered lower margins last year as the worldwide harmonised light vehicle test procedure emissions cycle slowed production and money started pouring into electric vehicles. Such plans are backed by major shareholders the Porsche-Piëch clan, although the powerful head of the group’s works council Bernd Osterloh has warned in recent days against reported plans to slash a further 5,000 to 7,000 posts. “We will need to make job cuts, and achieving this purely through fluctuation and partial retirement will be difficult,” Diess said on Tuesday.
The company hopes dieselgate will inflict less pain this year, but the legal fallout remains potentially toxic. In Germany alone, massive cases have been launched by both shareholders and owners of manipulated cars — the latter group numbering more than 410,000.
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