Volkswagen plans to make two additional battery cars at its main factory in Germany as the manufacturer tries to get its electric shift back on track.
VW will assemble a revamped version of the battery-powered ID.3 at its Wolfsburg site from 2023, and a new all-electric sport utility vehicle sometime later, it said Wednesday. The carmaker is spending €460m (roughly R8.3bn) by early 2025 to retool the plant.
CEO Oliver Blume is under pressure to turn around VW’s EV and software push, which has been plagued by development fumbles and internal discord that delayed the launch of key Audi and Porsche models.
The CEO is re-evaluating some of the strategies set out by his predecessor Herbert Diess, whom Blume replaced in September after a number of setbacks. The former Porsche head plans to push back the key Trinity EV project by at least two years because new software won’t be ready in time, Bloomberg reported last month.
VW, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are pouring more than €100bn (roughly R1.8-trillion) into scaling up an entirely new infrastructure of assembly platforms, battery plants and software to deliver a new generation of EVs. The hope is that these will lead on driving range as well as digital offerings that tap new sources of revenue and shut out tech rivals.
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