Volkswagen is one of the carmakers most committed to electrification. While the North American range currently comprises just one model (with a second to follow before the end of the year with the ID.Buzz), there are five in Europe.
However, like other manufacturers, Volkswagen is dealing with a slowdown in the growth of demand for its EVs, which also means that it expects gasoline engines to sit alongside all-electric ones for longer than expected.
Volkswagen CFO and COO Arno Antlitz said the group will continue to invest in the development of gasoline engines, as reported by Automotive News.
The automaker plans to spend around 64 billion euros on gasoline engines, or around $95 billion in Canadian dollars.
Last year, Volkswagen said wanted 20 percent of its sales to be all-electric by 2025. In the first quarter of this year, the company sold 136,400 electric vehicles, down 3.3 percent on the same period in 2023. A year ago, the proportion of electric model sales at Volkswagen was 6.9 percent; this year it's 6.5 percent. That 20-percent target for next year seems out of reach.
Even so, sales of electric vehicles are progressing within the brand. Volkswagen sold its 500,000th electric vehicle a year ahead of schedule. It’s worth repeating that it’s the rate of growth of EV sales that has slowed, not growth itself. But it’s enough to lead the automaker to divert investment funds back into ICE development.
Antlitz's statement says it all: “The future is electric, but the past is not over”.