“Volkswagen” group is backing away from its strategy to move to all-electric vehicles.
Parent VW, which has touted the ID family of electric cars as a key element of its future, has acknowledged that it will need more plug-in hybrid vehicles due to slowing EV sales.
It’s the latest correction in VW’s electrification strategy after the company faced problems with several models and fell behind in China, which is now dominated by domestic brands.
The automaker also put on hold plans to bring in outside investors for its battery unit and canceled a $2 billion loan. euros shisoconstruction of an electric vehicle factory in Germany.
In fact, Volkswagen is selling so many gasoline-powered cars that it may exceed the emissions limit next year. VW Group CEO Oliver Blum has appealed to European regulators to soften the fines.
The sudden change in direction comes just three years after VW’s aggressive campaign to promote BEVs in the European Union caused a rift between the company and some of its peers in the region. VW has been forced to ramp up its electrification efforts after the company built on clean diesel engines and was caught cheating on emissions tests, forcing a major shift to electric vehicles.
VW is not alone in having to rethink its strategy as the electric car market slows. Countries, including Germany and Sweden, have reduced or eliminated subsidies Elektra for diesel cars, which are still often more expensive than their petrol equivalents, to the detriment of the sector as a whole.
