Volkswagen presents New Auto strategy for 2030

7月13日晚，大众汽车集团发布2030 NEW AUTO战略。

Jul 13, 2021 -Volkswagen has presented its strategy for 2030 called ‘New Auto’. At the core of this strategy is the shift to electromobility and the gradual phasing out of the combustion engine.

At the strategy presentation, VW gave an update on the six European battery Gigafactories, which are to produce the unit battery cells for its own use. Gigafactory 1 is operated by partner Northvolt in Skellefteå, Sweden.

Chinese cell manufacturer becomes a partner for Salzgitter

While it was already announced at the Power Day that Northvolt is no longer involved in Factory 2 in Salzgitter in Germany, contrary to the announcement made in March, VW will not operate this plant alone. For Salzgitter, the Wolfsburg company has brought the Chinese partner Gotion High-Tech on board this week. 

Point 2 for industry change is software, according to VW. “In a world of the New Auto, brand differentiation will come much more from software and services,” says Diess. But this also means that the costs and complexity of the hardware should decrease in the medium and long term.

SSP: One platform for all VW electric cars from small cars to premium SUVs

VW gave only a few key data on the SSP. As Audi boss Markus Duesmann, who also heads Group Research, indicated, an “800 Volt Flex” system is to become standard for the mechatronic platform. And already by 2030, the SSP is expected to reach more volume than MEB and PPE combined – 40 million vehicles are to be built over the platform’s unspecified lifetime. “This shows that the economies of scale we expect will be enormous,” says Duesmann.

From 2025 onwards, combustion margins will be under pressure

Complexity is also the keyword for the combustion models. Group boss Diess expects the market for combustion engines to shrink by 20 to 30 per cent in the near future. Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz justified this with the reasoning that “We want to keep the internal combustion vehicles competitive and generate stable cash flows,” Antlitz said.

His scenario is that, from 2025 onwards, the margins of combustion engines will come under pressure, as electric cars will already catch up with combustion engines in terms of profit margins in two to three years. In order to cushion the falling combustion margins, complexity will be gradually reduced – fewer engine-transmission combinations, fewer models. 

Software should ensure increasing sales

“We expect that by 2030 sales of electric cars will exceed those of combustion cars,” the CFO said. “From 2025, another ‘revenue pool’ will be added software. By 2030, the software will be similar in size to the revenue share of electric cars or internal combustion cars.”

From E3 1.1, the software of the MEB, the PPE will see an evolutionary change to E3 1.2. “It’s going to be a whole new driver experience,” says Hilgenberg. Customers of Audi or Porsche will be able to bring their own data and services into the car. As a slide from Hilgenberg’s presentation shows, the E3 1.2 will be based on Android Automotive.

Hilgenberg also announced the revolutionary development for 2025. That is when the E3 2.0 is to debut, in the vehicle of the Artemis project. “E3 2.0 offers maximum development synergies in countering, but gives brands the opportunity to differentiate,” says Hilgenberg. E3 2.0 also supports Level 3 autonomous driving and is ready for Level 4, according to Volkswagen.

Level 4 autonomy to enable mobility services

In addition to the E3 software in the vehicle, which already offers revenue opportunities, a software platform around mobility services is also to be built. Mobility-as-a-Service and, in the commercial sector, Transport-as-a-Service should be as easy to offer and use as an app – this is also made possible by the Level 4 capability of the E3 2.0. Together with the services from the vehicle software, this results in point 3: digital services.

In order to sell the 40 million BEVs with E3 2.0 software that Hilgenberg is aiming for by 2030, the company must tackle another challenge: charging the electric cars. To this end, Volkswagen intends to further expand the public charging infrastructure in Asia, Europe and America – in some cases beyond the targets announced at ‘Power Day’.

In Europe, Volkswagen has also agreed to a new joint venture with Enel X to build a nationwide HPC network in Italy with more than 3,000 charging points of up to 350 kilowatts each. In total, the Volkswagen Group plans to build 18,000 HPC charging points in Europe, 17,000 in China and 10,000 in the USA and Canada.

“The automobile, individual mobility has a bright future,” Diess says with conviction. “With its innovative brands and state-of-the-art technology platforms, Volkswagen is preparing to play a leading role in the new mobility world.”

Volkswagen-newsroom.com 

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