Volkswagen have announced at the Geneva Motor Show that they want in on the hybrid vehicle market. And they want in in a big way. In 2013 Volkswagen will launch hybrid models of the volume-selling Golf and Jetta models. A move VW expects will lead them to “dominate the hybrid and electric vehicle market”.
Indeed, Volkswagen’s Chairman, Professor Martin Winterkorn, has stated, “The goal is to become the market leader in E-mobility by the year 2018.
“We will take the hybrid out of its niche status with our high-volume models. In the future, the heart of the brand will also beat with electricity.”
The move to mass market penetration will begin next year when Volkswagen releases an evaulation fleet of 500 Golf hybrids. Volkswagen also expects electric drive technology to filter across all of its group brands.
Of course, Volkswagen have already dipped their tow into the hybrid market with the new Touareg. Audi, too, has it’s e-tron lineup. And the Porsche 918 Spyder is the undisputed star of the Geneva Motor Show so far.
More after the break.
Volkswagen Sets Roadmap for E-Mobility
- Prof. Winterkorn: In the future, the heart of the brand will also beat with electricity.
- Volkswagen is taking E-mobility to the next level: mass production in the Golf and UP.
- High-volume models will extend the hybrid product range
Wolfsburg / Geneva, 01 March 2010 – Volkswagen plans to expand its fleet of electric drive vehicles: The use of hybrid technology in production vehicles is already being demonstrated in the Touareg Hybrid at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. In 2011, a test fleet of 500 Golfs with electric drives will follow. Starting in 2013, the high-volume Golf and Jetta models of the Volkswagen brand are expected to dominate the hybrid and electric vehicle market.
Volkswagen plans to strategically bundle its competence in electric traction and extend it step-by-step. It has now established a clear launch schedule for its E-traction products. Prof. Dr. Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG explains: “Volkswagen will be taking E-mobility to mass production. In 2011, we are expanding our test fleet by adding 500 Golfs with electric drive. A hybrid version of the Jetta for the US market follows in 2012. Starting in 2013, the E-UP goes into production. The goal is to become the market leader in E-mobility by the year 2018. We want to attain an electric vehicle market share of three percent within our entire range of products.” He goes on to say: “We will take the hybrid out of its niche status with our high-volume models. In the future, the heart of the brand will also beat with electricity.”
Today, the electric car is already technically capable of short ranges of up to 150 kilometres. And so, the Group’s various brands will be conducting field studies in key strategic markets of Europe, North America and China in upcoming months. An important intermediate step here is Group-wide implementation of hybrid technology in production vehicles. In Geneva, Volkswagen is therefore showcasing its technological competence in hybrid development and is already introducing the new Touareg Hybrid.
“This technological competence will be advanced in Volkswagen’s modular strategy of flexibly integrating hybrid and E-drives over a wide variety of vehicle platforms in all of the Group brands”, says Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Group Chief Officer for Electric Traction. “We will continue to systematically exploit the potential of internal combustion engines with the goal of significantly reducing fuel consumption and emissions. So over the mid-term, vehicles with electric drives and those with internal combustion engines will co-exist.”
The market launch schedule for purely electric cars is as ambitious as it is systematic: The E-UP will kick off the programme in 2013; the E-Golf will then be introduced, just before another crucial event of the Volkswagen Group’s E-strategy follows at the end of the year with the launch of the E-Jetta. In subsequent years, a modular E-traction approach will systematically extend electrification to other model series.
Milestones of the planned VW Group’s hybrid offensive: the Jetta Hybrid will debut in August 2012, the Passat Hybrid in August 2013 and two months later the Golf Hybrid.
These measures will make Volkswagen the leader in CO2-neutral mobility.
3 replies on “Geneva: Volkswagen wants to dominate hybrid market”
I hate to break it to VW but Toyota has already taken hybrid out of the niche by adding it to the Camry – I don’t think it’s actually possible to get less niche than a Camry is it?? Maybe a Corolla is less niche but a hybrid version of that is already in the pipeline (not that I’d buy either of them though)
Yeah, there’s a few motherhood statements in there that might come back to bite them.
It is interesting to see, though, that VW plan to embrace hybrid technology in such a big way.
Yes while VW is boasting about “e” cars for 2012 & 2013 Toyota releases the production Auris HSD (Corolla) due to go on sale in a few months….