Making intelligent vehicles will be bigger challenge than electric cars – VW brand chief

The transformation of the car industry will pose a challenge for German car manufacturer VW in the decades to come, brand chief Ralf Brandstätter has told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview. “The shift towards electromobility is the biggest challenge the automotive industry has had to overcome so far,” Brandstätter said. Ten days ago VW started delivering the first vehicles of its ID.3 to customers. It is VW's first real original e-car, after having realised five years ago that building electric engines into existing platforms such as the Golf was not the best solution because of costs, interior design and reach, Brandstätter explained. By 2024, VW will have invested 11 billion euros in electric mobility and plans to sell 1.5 million e-cars in 2025. The company currently sells around 6 million cars per year. “Now the next, even greater challenge is to develop an independent software platform for an intelligent vehicle. The pressure on our industry remains enormous,” Brandstätter said.

After the Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal, VW initiated a very active move into electric mobility. The ID.3 is its first fully electric model, based on a new vehicle platform that forms the basis for its huge electric ambitions. The production has been delayed because of the COVID-19 related lockdown in spring. Brandstätter said he was still confident that VW would be able to meet the European CO2 targets for its fleet. The EU has set a CO2 emissions target of 130 grams per kilometre for new cars as the EU fleet-wide average, decreasing to 95 g/km in 2021 and it is now widely expected that most German firms will face large fines for not meeting the target.