Volkswagen, which owns brands such as Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley, has been investing heavily in electric car technologies over the past five years.
The largest German automaker knows that the days of internal combustion vehicles are numbered. Tesla recently became the most valuable car company in the world, with a market cap that triples the value of the entire Volkswagen Group.
As Volkswagen continues investing in the electric transformation of the group, all the electric cars won’t come out from any of the facilities its subsidiaries have in other countries. VW is assembling all the electric cars, on its facilities at home. The largest one, in Zwickau, is now entirely dedicated to produce electric vehicles.
The reasons to start the transformation to EVs in Germany are two-fold: First, the German and Northern European countries are the fastest-growing market for full-electric vehicles and connected cars, while the Southern European market still prefers internal combustion vehicles (ICVs). Second, the German lander of Lower Saxony holds 12% of the Volkswagen group shares and 20% voting rights.
The company’s move to retrofit some of its German facilities to produce EVs started several years ago. It has been building several full-electric models such as the e-up! and e-Golf. Currently, the company is retooling three more German facilities and one in China.
Originally published as “Volkswagen pulls advanced technologies and electric cars back home” on IoT Times
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