The revolution in the chain of command that in September brought Oliver Blume, former head of Porsche (now listed on the stock exchange), to the top of the Volkswagen group in place of Herbert Diess, has not changed the e-mobility strategy of the German giant. until 2026. A plan to which investments of 159 billion euros are dedicated and to whose support, just before Diess left the scene, was also the acquisition of Europcar.
The player in the sector of all types of rental joins Volkswagen to give greater outlets to the electric and self-driving models of each brand of the group, which will be increasingly numerous starting from the second half of this decade. That is, when the fruits of the investment of the New Auto plan arrive, including the gigafactory in Salzgitter where the unified cell lithium-ion batteries will be produced and the technologies developed by Cariad which, however, have so far been moving slowly enough to delay the launch. of important models. In this context, however, there could also be an acceleration for synthetic fuels in which Blume strongly believes, to make traditional engines neutral in terms of CO2 emissions.
Regardless, the goal of bringing electric car production to 25 percent of total production from 2026 is supported by the development of a new architecture for electric models: the scalable systems platform (SSP) that will replace all those used until that time. In the meantime, however, the e-mobility of the VW group is proceeding with models that fit into every sector. Buzz, a 21st century interpretation of the legendary Bull that extends the brand’s range of action in the minivan and light commercial vehicle sectors, in which it has always been among the protagonists, has arrived in the electric Id family of the parent company. absolute. Buzz is also already a protagonist in the development of the Europcar acquisition, as some fully automated vehicles are undergoing tests in Hamburg and Munich, which should be among the first cities where Europcar mobility services will be available. by Volkswagen.
Another electric Volkswagen will also be based on the Meb architecture used by the ID range, namely the Aero sedan which will be sold in the second half of 2023 starting from China. In practice, it is the future Passat in Bev format and promises a range of 700 kilometers.
The same mileage is also announced for the Audi A6 Avant e-tron based, however, on the Ppe platform, like the homonymous sedan unveiled last year. The electric station wagon will become a production model in 2023.