Without the internal combustion engine, Volkswagen will be in trouble. From a purely economic point of view, there is not much to catch up on in electric cars, says development manager Kai Grünitz.
Without the internal combustion engine, Volkswagen will be in trouble. It is difficult for the Germans to make a profit on electric cars.
In fact, development manager Kai Grünitz would like to admit that there is both very little profit to be made from electric cars and that Volkswagen has been 'too enthusiastic when it comes to electric cars'.
The development manager tells this in an interview with Dutch Autovisie .
– But we are obviously not the only ones (who have believed too much in the electric car, ed.), says Grünitz.
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And he is right about that. Because these days the car brands are almost in a row to announce that they are withdrawing previous goals for electric cars.
Most recently, Audi has had to admit that you cannot do without the internal combustion engine in 2033. At sister brand Volkswagen, you have already taken the consequence.
In Wolfsburg, DKK 500 billion has already been taken from a pool that would otherwise only be used for electric cars. That money will now be used to develop 'highly fuel-efficient hybrids'.
In fact, the Volkswagen Group realizes that motorists generally want hybrids. But the sales figures are hard to ignore. While the electric cars for the 7th month in a row without government support are experiencing a plummeting interest, the diesel, petrol and hybrid cars are gaining market share.
The fact that Volkswagen will now spend a lot of money on developing the internal combustion engine at a time when the EU is sticking to a ban on the technology from 2035 does not mean that the Germans have written off the electric car.
On the contrary, Volkswagen is still aiming for the city car UP! gets a successor. At least in terms of price. The Germans are adamant that they will soon be able to build a car for 20,000 euros, equivalent to 150,000 kroner. Read more about it here .
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