Volkswagen will be launching 34 new models worldwide in 2020 and this includes 12 SUVs and 8 electric or hybrid vehicles. There's heavy concentration on SUVs for the brand across the world and in an interview with carandbike Volkswagen India's Director, Steffen Knapp, said that the company plans to SUV-ise the VW brand in India and 4 SUVs will hit the market in the next 2 years. The fact remains that SUVs have brought in the moolah for the company and VW is latching onto that trend. Well of course, it is also investing heavily in electric and hybrid technology, and the products will roll out next year.
Volkswagen COO Ralf Brandstatter said, "We are at the beginning of a new era. We mean business with e-mobility. The brand will be investing 19 billion Euros in future technologies through 2024, 11 billion Euros alone in the further development of e-mobility. And Volkswagen starts the biggest electric offensive in the automotive industry next year"
The first car to hit the global market is the all-electric ID. 3 and it will be followed by the I.D Next SUV. The digital transformation roadmap is an important stepping stone for the company in its modernization and digitalization efforts. Signed off in 2019, the roadmap follows on from the pact for the future and focuses in particular on further improvements in competitiveness and earnings power over the coming years. It also lays the groundwork for expanding the software expertise of the brand and the Group. The car.software organisation will already begin operating as an independent business unit in January 2020. By 2025, the in-house share of car software development and vehicle-related services is to rise from under ten percent today to at least 60 percent.
Production has also become more efficient in 2019, with the brand exceeding its annual productivity improvement target of five percent. The improvement by the end of the year is expected to be more than seven percent.
