Volkswagen is in the midst of a comprehensive transformation which it hopes will see the company become the market leader in electric vehicles. Despite this, the brand’s boss, Matthias Muller, still believes internal combustion engines have an important future.
While speaking at Volkswagen’s Annual General Meeting, Muller revealed that the German automaker will invest around 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) into developing ICE technologies by 2022 and diesel will play an important role.
“This applies also and especially to the Euro 6 diesel, despite the current heated debate,” Muller said. “Diesel will remain indispensable for the foreseeable future. The internal combustion engine primarily is part of the solution, not part of the problem.
“124 years after it was invented, the diesel engine still has plenty of potential. And we intend to exploit that potential. By 2020, we will have made our internal combustion engines between 10 and 15 percent more efficient, and therefore also cleaner. This will help protect the environment and conserve resources,” the executive said.
During his speech, Muller said that Volkswagen has laid the foundations for its most extensive transformation and said that “our industry will see more fundamental changes in the coming decade than we have experienced over the past 100 years.”
VW’s current plans will see more than 10 new electrified models added to its range by 2018 and by 2025, it will have added over 30 battery electric vehicles. Additionally, VW is working with Nvidia on autonomous drive technologies.
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