Volkswagen’s strict financial position after Diesel Gate carries with it serious consequences.
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf
CEO Matthias Müller recently announced a reduced level of spending for 2016 of €1 billion.
Some investments are on hold, delayed, reviewed or switched to other areas.
“The Volkswagen Group is aligning investment activity in its Automotive Division with the current situation. The aim is for planned investments in property, plant and equipment, investment property and intangible assets, excluding capitalized development costs (capex), to be capped at approximately EUR 12 billion next year. The average figure for the previous planning period was about EUR 13 billion per year.”
Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen said:
“We are operating in uncertain and volatile times and are responding to this. We will strictly prioritize all planned investments and expenditures. As announced, anything that is not absolutely necessary will be cancelled or postponed.”
Alternative drive technologies seem to be among the “absolutely necessary” group because those technologies will get an additional €100 million in 2016. Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche will have green lights to introduce more plug-ins, but not all EVs will be able to go ahead at full speed as the electric Phaeton project announced earlier will be delayed.
Read more: Inside EVs