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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.
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