Matthias Müller, chief executive officer at Volkswagen Group, has claimed the company’s new ‘Together – Strategy 2025’ plan for the next decade will feature the biggest change process in Volkswagen history.
Speaking to 3,000 shareholders at the company’s 56th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Müller said the automotive industry was on the cusp of the next big innovative leap, with e-mobility, autonomous driving, and digitalization set to "revolutionise" VW Group’s business.
At the start of June, VW launched a strategic partnership with mobility provider Gett in what was described as the first step in a transition towards providing integrated mobility.
Müller added to the integrated mobility claim, stating: "In the years ahead, we will group other services such as robotaxis, carsharing or on-demand transport in quick succession around this core service. In a rapidly expanding and hotly contended market, our aim is for it to generate sales revenue in the multi-billion range by 2025."
Fully autonomous vehicles with self-driving systems will enter the market by the beginning of the next decade, Müller predicted, adding: "Cumulative investment in new autonomous mobility solutions will amount to several billion euros."
VW also plans to invest heavily in battery technologies, which Müller described as ‘key’ to e-mobility. "We will need 150 gigawatt hours of battery capacity by 2025 for our own e-fleet alone – which would make for a massive procurement volume," he said, adding that as a result VW will scrutinize the entire process chain, from raw materials through to battery production.
For the more immediate future, Müller said credibility and trust were the most important currency to VW, and that the company was looking to regain the trust of the public.
One example Müller said would be introduced is external emissions testing: "We have therefore decided that emissions tests at our company will, as a general principle, be externally evaluated by independent third parties in future. Real-world random testing of vehicle emissions behaviour on the road will also be introduced," he said.
