Volkswagen's 2025 Plan: Be More Open-Minded, Cut the Fat, and Build 30 Electric Models

Volkswagen Group wants to give its operation a top-to-bottom shakeup, which means ditching the bureaucratic, centralized ways of the past and positioning itself as a lean, nimble player in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Oh, and there will be tons of electric vehicles. Piles and piles of them.

In its announcement of the TOGETHER – Strategy 2025 plan, the automaker came off sounding more like a tech startup, touting a newfound “entrepreneurial mindset and approach” that will bring the company out of the long shadow of the emissions scandal.

Efficiency is top of mind in the plan, with streamlining across the board — including on the assembly line, where modular platforms will be massaged for every last bit of usefulness. The early details we reported on yesterday, including a portfolio review, potential asset sale, and consolidation of component units, are also part of the plan.

Moving forward, Volkswagen wants its truck and bus division (Scania, MAN and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles) to be a bigger moneymaker for the group. It wants those vehicles to have the biggest presence in the global market, too.

A new mobility solutions business unit, which no automaker (it seems) can be without, aims to turn a profit in the billions of dollars by 2025.

In terms of products, the company said it will position its model lineup “to focus on the most attractive and fastest-growing market segments,” meaning SUVs, crossovers, and plenty of electric vehicles. In the next 10 years, Volkswagen plans to introduce “over 30” battery electric vehicles, with projected sales of two to three million EVs by the end of the period.

In other words, the automaker plans to dominate the EV market, even though the future of the market — and its eventual size — is hard to judge.

On the corporate front, Volkswagen plans to be extra stingy with its cash. The ratio of research and development costs to sales revenue will drop to six percent, while selling and administration costs will reverse course and drop below 12 percent of revenue.

The company is crossing its fingers and hoping these moves (literally) pay off. It’s aiming for an operating return on sales of somewhere between seven and eight percent, up from six percent last year.