According to CFO Arno Antlitz, Volkswagen will stop producing a number of combustion engine automobile models by the end of the decade. Antlitz said it intends to eliminate 60% of its gas- and diesel-powered models in Europe by 2030 but did not specify which models would be discontinued.
The news demonstrates how supply chain issues have sped up the switch by automakers from gas to electric vehicles. While chip shortages have forced the early retirement of some combustion engine car models and halted production for others, Volkswagen and its competitors are pressing ahead with ambitious plans to increase the production of electric vehicles (EVs).
Volkswagen still intends to invest $59 billion by 2026 to introduce new electric car lines and compete against EV industry behemoths like Tesla, despite cutting production overall. Volkswagen will cannibalize gas-powered vehicle factories and convert them into EV ones in order to accomplish these incongruous ambitions. According to Antlitz, “We are not increasing capacity; instead, we rework factories one at a time. The corporation has already switched the production lines at its German facilities in Zwickau and Emden from combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles.
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Is Volkswagen having issues?
In 2014, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requested a research on emissions differences between European and US vehicle models from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), which compiled information on 15 vehicles from three sources. A team of five scientists from the West Virginia University Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions (CAFEE) were among those hired for this project; they used a Japanese on-board emission testing system to find extra emissions during live road tests on two out of three diesel vehicles. [32] [33]
Two other sources of data were also purchased by ICCT. Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS), created by numerous people in the mid-late 1990s and released in May 2014[34][35][36], were used to generate the new road testing data as well as the purchased data.
Regulators in several nations started looking into Volkswagen,[37] and in the days following the disclosure, the stock price of the company dropped by a third in value. Martin Winterkorn, the CEO of the Volkswagen Group, resigned, while Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Ulrich Hackenberg, and Wolfgang Hatz, the heads of Audi research and development, were suspended. In April 2016, Volkswagen announced intentions to repair the impacted vehicles as part of a recall effort and allocate 16.2 billion euros (or US$18.32 billion at April 2016 exchange rates)[38] to fixing the emissions problems. Volkswagen entered a plea of guilty in January 2017 and signed an agreed Statement of Facts that based on the findings of an investigation the company had commissioned from US attorneys Jones Day. In April 2017, a US federal judge ordered Volkswagen to pay a $2.8 billion criminal fine for “rigging diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on government emissions tests.” The statement detailed how engineers had created the defeat devices because diesel models could not pass US emissions tests without them. The “unprecedented” plea agreement formalized the punishment Volkswagen had already accepted.[40] On May 3, 2018, Winterkorn was accused of fraud and conspiracy in the United States.[15] As of June 1, 2020[update], the scandal had cost VW $33.3 billion in fines, penalties, financial settlements, and buyback costs.[41] Various judicial and civil proceedings are currently ongoing in the U.S. and the European Union, where the majority of the affected vehicles are located.
The controversy increased public knowledge of the greater pollution levels released by all diesel-powered vehicles from a wide range of auto manufacturers, which, when driven in actual traffic, exceeded legal emission limits. Investigations into other diesel emissions issues have begun as a result of a study by ICCT and ADAC that revealed the highest deviations came from Volvo, Renault, Jeep, Hyundai, Citron, and Fiat[42][43][44]. It was raised that software-controlled equipment is often susceptible to fraud and that one solution would be to make the program available for public inspection.[45][46][47]
Volkswagen: Will it overtake Tesla?
According to a thorough assessment released this morning by the research firm Bloomberg Intelligence, Volkswagen electric vehicles will overtake Tesla for the next 18 months as the world’s top seller of EVs. Volkswagen is on course to surpass Tesla’s production output by 2024, according to the full BEV forecast report, although several legacy manufacturers will continue to struggle with sales through 2025.
We won’t bore you with their histories because Volkswagen and Tesla are both well-known automakers. The former has made more recent and aggressive attempts to embrace BEVs than other legacy automakers, whilst the latter has been entirely electric from the start.
Volkswagen may have had a small chip on its shoulder as a result of the emissions issue, but it appears to be working. In the fall of last year, we reported Volkswagen was accelerating EV deliveries and sales at an astounding rate, with YOY growth exceeding 100%.
As the number of Volkswagen models available increases along with the demand for BEVs, this trend has persisted beyond 2022. Volkswagen continues to look behind Tesla while making progress for the German automaker.
While wearing a crown adorned with emblems like a $686 billion market cap and hundreds of thousands of units manufactured each quarter, Tesla, on the other hand, continues to play a very public role as the darling of EV adoption. Despite several hiccups, Tesla has no intention of slowing down as new Gigafactories in Austin and Berlin get going.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, Volkswagen will soon overtake the American manufacturer as the market leader in BEV sales as a result of Tesla’s increasing efforts.
Will VW sell more than Tesla?
A recent analysis from the research firm Bloomberg Intelligence foresees a significant reorganization at the top of the pyramid of EV manufacturers. It implies that Volkswagen will overtake Tesla as the current global leader in around 18 months and that Tesla won’t hold onto the top spot for very long.
According to the research, the Volkswagen group already sells more electric vehicles in Europe (310,000 vehicles compared to Tesla’s under 170,000, although the latter is an unverified statistic given by Jato Dynamics), and last year it saw a two-fold increase in EV sales over the previous year. Although the number of EVs sold by VW in the US in 202137,200tripled those sold in 2020, the automaker still has goals to expand its market share in the country.
The fact that the majority of models are sold out for 2022 is evidence that Volkswagen EVs are truly quite popular, albeit this may also be partially attributed to delivery times growing longer as a result of the several issues now plaguing the world and the whole automotive industry.
Tesla also reported record sales for 2021, selling an astonishing 936,222 electric vehicles globally. As a result of the $50 billion in annual revenue, the electric vehicle manufacturer rose 35 spots on the Fortune 500 list.
According to the estimate, the market share of electric vehicles would increase from the 6% anticipated in 2021 to 15% by 2025. Since the sales mix for EVs is only anticipated to reach 6 percent by the middle of the decade, China, Europe, and the US will be the main drivers of this growth, along with the US to a lesser extent.
Bloomberg projects that the current leader in China, BYD, will come in third for EV sales in 2025. It’s interesting to note that the prognosis is that BYD would be able to keep its local leadership, but that Changan and eventually Geely will closely trail it. Dongfeng, as well as the two major EV companies from China, Nio and Xpeng, will present fierce competition.
The F-150 Lightning is viewed as the first significant electric model from a legacy automaker that will actually help with US EV acceptance, and the report in Ford’s case gives an optimistic outlook pointing to the projected success of this vehicle. Up till now, Tesla has mostly dominated the US auto market, but from 2025 or 2026, traditional automakers will start to threaten Tesla’s dominance.
The entire Bloomberg Intelligence report, which is available for free download and has 33 pages of information, can be downloaded for free. However, you should always take this kind of information with a grain of salt because it only provides a general estimate based on historical data and recent trends and does not take into account unforeseen disruptions or breakthroughs.
Is the Passat being slain by VW?
Volkswagen announced that it would discontinue the Passat sedan for the American market in July 2021. According to CarBuzz, towards the end of 2021, the carmaker stopped making the Passat Sedan for international markets. The Passat sedan will no longer be sold in international markets after the 2022 model year, similar to the U.S. market.
The Passat sedan sold in foreign nations is different from the Passat manufactured in America. The Passat is a larger vehicle that is built on an earlier platform in the US. Since 2014, the Passat has been sold with global specifications. Regardless matter the platform, the Passat sedan’s demise is imminent.
will discontinue producing gas-powered vehicles?
He mentioned that 17 other states have previously implemented California’s harsher tailpipe emission regulations after the Golden State did so.
With numerous states already taking action to accept the new standards, 15 of those have also backed its zero-emission vehicle requirements.
Unlike other states, California has the exclusive authority to establish pollution requirements that are more stringent than federal regulations. Through a waiver from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Clear Air Act enables California to impose pollution rules for new cars. The EPA maintains that as long as the standards are identical, other states are free to adopt California’s rules.
By 2035, any automobile, pickup truck, minivan, SUV, or other passenger vehicle that emits greenhouse gases will be prohibited from sale in California under the new regulations. After the laws go into effect, drivers will be able to buy used gas-powered vehicles and continue to drive gas-powered vehicles purchased before the 2035 deadline.
Here is a list of the states that have taken action to enact legislation resembling California’s zero-emission car regulations.
The governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, declared this week that his state is “ready to implement California’s regulations by the end of this year” and dubbed California’s prohibition on new gasoline vehicles “a critical milestone in our battle against climate change.” Washington was previously obligated by the state legislature to adopt regulations that would apply California’s pollution limits. In their $17 billion transportation plan, state lawmakers also included a goalnot a mandateto phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2030.
Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality announced on Thursday that the state is also considering adopting California’s “landmark” law. The state is moving forward with a proposed rule that, according to the department, is “essential to help achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets across the state and result in improved air quality and public health outcomes.” Oregon’s proposal is similar to California’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulation. By 2035, the proposed rule will mandate the sale of only zero-emission new light-duty vehicles in the state. By 2035, the state had previously set a goal of having at least 90% of newly sales automobiles be zero-emission vehicles.
How is Volkswagen doing?
In 2021, Volkswagen resumed making money in the United States, as well as in Mexico and Canada. Their four primary SUVs accounted for 70% of sales (The Atlas Models, Tiguan, Taos, and ID. 4). Volkswagen claimed having a 26% market share of the electric vehicles sold in Europe during the first half of 2021.
What is VW’s standing?
The global reputation of the Volkswagen Group is depicted in a timeline from 2011 to 2017. The results show that Volkswagen scored 61.3 points out of 100 in 2016, down from 75 points the previous year.
With more than 10 million vehicles sold globally in 2016, the Volkswagen Group is one of the top automakers in the world. Following the Volkswagen diesel deception crisis that erupted in the U.S. in September 2015, S., the company’s reputation and brand value took significant hits. Volkswagen was formerly among the most valuable brands in the world. In 2015, its brand value was 12.55 billion dollars, but by 2016, the German automaker had dropped out of the top ten most expensive brands in the world. The controversy centered on the fact that some of their automobiles sold in the nation had overstated fuel usage and, as a result, carbon dioxide emissions. This controversy directly affected other significant markets for the corporation because the U.S. is one of the main markets for the automotive sector. The scandal also had an impact on several European nations, Volkswagen’s most lucrative market, who started looking into the subject. The German automaker’s Reputation Index score in 2016 was the lowest since 2011 according to data from the Reputation Institute, as seen in the statistic below. Volkswagen scored around 77 points in both 2011 and 2012, and maintained a score of close to 75 points on average until 2016, when it fell to 61.3. The average index score for the most reliable businesses is 77. The Reputation Institute ranked Rolex as the most trustworthy corporation in 2017 with an overall score of 80.38. With 77.66 points, Rolls-Royce had the best rating among car manufacturers.