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]
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