Volkswagen sets roadmap for electric cars

The Volkswagen E-Up electric car will go into production by 2013...

Volkswagen has announced new plans to expand its fleet of electric-drive vehicles. The use of hybrid technology in production vehicles is already being demonstrated in the VW Touareg Hybrid at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. In 2011, a test fleet of 500 VW Golfs with electric-drive will follow. And by 2013, Volkswagen expects the Golf and Jetta cars to ‘dominate’ the hybrid and electric vehicles market worldwide.

‘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,’ says Professor Dr Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.

‘We want to attain an electric vehicle market share of three percent within our entire range of products. We will take the hybrid out of its niche status with our high-volume models. In the future, the heart of the VW brand will also beat with electricity,’ adds Dr Winterkorn.

However, Volkswagen is prepared to say goodbye to the IC engine just yet. ‘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,’ adds Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann, VW’s Group Chief Officer for Electric Traction.