The Volkswagen Group has announced it’s planning to invest €180 billion (~A$289 billion) between 2023 and 2027, with over two-thirds of that earmarked for digitalisation and electrification.
68 per cent of this total investment – or around €122 billion (~$197 billion) – will be for these “future fields”, and the company says it’s focusing in particular on the North American and Chinese regions.
In addition, there will be ongoing investments in the “last generation of combustion engines”.
The peak in the Volkswagen Group’s investment is expected to be reached in 2025, after which it’s claimed to continuously decline.
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Volkswagen ID.3
The Group said it recorded “solid full year results” for fiscal year 2022, and has a “strong financial basis on which to build in 2023”.
The company posted a “robust” operating profit of €22.5 billion (~A$36 billion) in 2022, which is up 12.5 per cent compared with 2021.
Despite this, the overall number of vehicles delivered across of its brands declined seven per cent to 8.3 million in 2022.
Volkswagen Group says it currently has an order book of 1.8 million vehicles and expects supply chain bottlenecks to “gradually ease” in 2023.
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Spied Porsche Macan EV prototype
Deep within the company’s annual report it notes the Cariad software unit suffered a loss of €2.1 billion (~A$3.2 billion) in 2022.
As reported by Automotive News Europe, the software unit is still ready to deliver its delayed premium software package to Porsche in time for the launch of the Macan EV in 2024.
“We were struggling with software issues on the Cariad level in VW Group over the last years,” said Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume.
“Now they are [close] to finishing the software platform for the Macan.”
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Scout electric SUV and pickup teaser
This software will also reportedly be used in the electric version of the next-generation Boxster, as well as the electric version of the Cayenne which was recently confirmed.
Looking to the future, Volkswagen Group’s recently-acquired Scout Motors brand recently announced it will build its upcoming pickup trucks and SUVs at a plant near Columbia, South Carolina from late 2026.
The company has said it’s investing US$2 billion (~A$3 billion) in getting this production facility set up, with groundbreaking planned for mid-2023.
MORE: Porsche sales to be almost entirely electric by 2030, Cayenne EV coming
MORE: 2024 Porsche Macan EV spied inside and out
MORE: Scout: VW’s off-roader EV brand setting up camp in South Carolina
