VW Is Shifting EV Investment Dollars to Fund Further ICE Development
Volkswagen hasn’t given up on its electrification plans, but it plans to shift some of its EV-designated funds to continue developing gas engines. Company Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz said the automaker would spend around $65 billion to “keep our combustion cars competitive.”
The executive acknowledged that EVs are the future but also said that “the past is not over.” His announcement that VW would invest a third of its planned EV funds in ICE tech is a reversal of previous statements and the company’s stated goal to only sell EVs in Europe by 2033. It’s also a change from the automaker’s estimates last year, which pegged EVs at 80 percent of its overall sales by the end of the 2020s.
It's unclear what the change could mean for VW’s model line in the U.S., but it will likely bring more hybrids. The automaker’s ID electric vehicles have received a tepid welcome to the market, and it only currently sells the ID.4 here, so we could continue seeing gas engines in cars like the GTI alongside electrified models in the near term.
Antlitz’s announcement comes when several other automakers have delayed or retargeted EV investments as buyer demand grows slower than many expected. Ford, GM, and others have also backtracked on hybrids, committing to developing new models to satisfy buyers’ desires for more affordable fuel-efficient vehicles instead of expensive EVs.
Some VW-owned brands are watching sustainable fuels, with Porsche operating an e-fuel facility in South America. Bentley has delayed its 2030 goal to go EV-only by three years, and VW’s move shows that the combustion engine will live on longer than originally planned, even in EV-friendly Europe.
[Images: Volkswagen]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
More by Chris Teague
Comments
Join the conversation
After my money-pit of a Jetta, the only VW vehicles I’ll ever consider are their EVs.
Nah, I'll pass on VW, and their EVs in particular.
My 6mt Golf Alltrack built in Mexico is good enough but VW has been stoopid since, glass cockpits, intrusive tracking, and the EV by 2030 pronouncement is just proof the WEF Elite learned nothing from Dieselgate, in re: c-suite wisdom, integrity or what Americans want. Like the California Bus, which you cant get in CA...😒