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The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand further strengthened the company’s profitability in fiscal year 2022. Thanks to effective sales management and rigorous cost optimization, the company generated a robust financial result. Despite the challenging economic situation and the unsettled geopolitical environment, operating profit before special items increased to EUR 2.6 billion and the operating return to 3.6 percent (fiscal year 2021: EUR 2.2 billion/3.2 percent). Supply constraints and the resulting lower delivery volumes had a significant negative impact on earnings, especially in the second half of the year. The North and South America regions made a large contribution to earnings in 2022, with market share to be robustly expanded going forward. Volkswagen also intends to further accelerate the transformation to e-mobility. The brand anticipates an all-electric share of around 80 percent in Europe by 2030. To this end, ten new electric models are to be launched by as early as 2026, including an all-electric Volkswagen for under EUR 25,000, which makes its world debut today as the ID. 2all study.

At the presentation of the 2022 financial statements, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer said: “In the past year, we successfully steered Volkswagen through difficult operational waters while at the same time doing our homework at strategic level. The company is well positioned for the decade of transformation and we are implementing our strategy swiftly and consistently.”

Continued sharp focus on cost efficiency

Despite declining deliveries, the brand generated annual sales of EUR 74 billion (prior year: EUR 68 billion) thanks to an optimized model and pricing policy. Additionally, the brand strengthened its financial base, improving “clean” net cash flow in 2022 to EUR 1,9 billion (EUR 0,3 billion). The optimization of fixed costs and distribution expenses was among the factors contributing to the good financial result.

Volkswagen CFO Patrik Andreas Mayer emphasized: “The past fiscal year was marked by enormous geopolitical uncertainties, the sharp rise in commodity and energy prices, disrupted supply chains as well as the negative impact of the pandemic in China. Our measures to reduce costs and increase profit had an impact, leading to a robust result given this challenging environment.”

Strong earnings contribution from North and South America regions

The strengthening of profitability in the global regions also continues to prove effective. Mayer: “The ongoing positive trend in North and South America bolstered the brand’s annual results.” Volkswagen sees major growth potential in these and other regions. This is thanks to a product portfolio specially tailored to the markets, coupled with local production. The market share in North America and the USA is to be doubled to at least 5 percent by 2030. To this end, Volkswagen plans to invest around EUR 5 billion in e-mobility and digitalization by 2027. A further EUR 1 billion will be invested in South America by 2026 to additionally boost the company’s market share and kick-start the transformation to e-mobility. Initial market tests with ID. models in South America are already underway.

Volkswagen accelerates e-offensive

In 2022, the company increased global sales of all-electric vehicles by 23.6 percent year on year to around 330,000 units. Volkswagen is now further accelerating the transition to e-mobility: By 2030, up to eight out of ten cars sold in Europe are to be battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The BEV share is to grow likewise in North America, with a target of 55 percent by 2030. In addition, Volkswagen will launch ten new BEV models by 2026. Four new electric models are coming soon: The second-generation ID.3 and the sporty ID.3 GTX, the long-wheelbase ID. Buzz and the flagship ID.7. With the ID. 2all study in the compact car segment, Volkswagen today provides a hands-on preview of the first electric VW for everyone. The starting price is to be under EUR 25,000. Electric vehicles will then be available in almost every volume segment, and the Volkswagen brand will offer the broadest e-portfolio compared with the competition, from the entry-level BEV to the ID.7 electric sedan.

Volkswagen plants creating greater capacity for e-cars

At the same time, the transformation in production at Volkswagen is progressing apace. To be fully converted to electric vehicles this summer, the Emden plant in Germany will produce the ID.7 in addition to the ID.4. Starting this fall, the new-generation ID.3 will also roll off the assembly line at Wolfsburg. The company is investing around EUR 460 million in the transformation of its main plant by early 2025. Its Zwickau and Dresden plants have meanwhile been fully converted, and production of the ID.4 already started last year in Chattanooga, USA.

High order backlog and launch of efficient internal combustion models in 2023

Alongside the new electric models, other attractive products with highly efficient internal combustion engines will be launched in 2023 in line with customer demand in the individual regions: the new versions of the Atlas in North America, the Virtus in Brazil, the Tiguan and the Passat. The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered 4.6 million vehicles worldwide in 2022 (-6.8 percent). Given the difficult supply situation, unit sales fell slightly in the past fiscal year to 2.2 million vehicles (prior year: 2.3 million). The difference between deliveries and unit sales is mainly due to the fact that carmaking joint ventures in China are not included in the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand.

Demand remains strong both for e-cars and for internal combustion models. Across all powertrains, the order backlog for Europe alone currently exceeds 660,000 vehicles, including almost 100,000 all-electric ID.s. The priority is now on quickly producing the vehicles ordered and delivering them to customers.

Outlook

Volkswagen projects a further significant increase in deliveries of all-electric vehicles in the current fiscal year. CFO Patrik Andreas Mayer: “We are cautiously optimistic that the supply situation will stabilize in the course of the year and are working resolutely on our cost position.” However, Mayer continued, it is anticipated that the current year will see a continuation of the highly challenging environment with regard to supply, commodity and energy prices as well as the geopolitical situation. Due to economic uncertainties and increasing cost pressure, the Volkswagen brand has revised its guidance for 2023 and now expects an operating return before special items of over 4 percent.

Volkswagen’s product pipeline is well filled, as emphasized by Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer: “Customers can look forward to a full lineup of VWs.” Even though 2023 looks set to remain challenging, Schäfer said, “we will not be deterred, but continue to systematically implement our plans for the VW brand and the Volume brand group.”

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Volkswagen is taking the legendary GTI Meeting at Lake Wörthersee into the future: From 2024, it will take place in the heart of the brand, in Wolfsburg. Near the Volkswagen plant, the "GTI Coming Home" event will welcome enthusiasts and fans of sporty Volkswagen models.

“Our GTI fans are of great importance to Volkswagen and that's why the exchange with them is very dear to us," says Imelda Labbé, Member of the Board of Management for Sales, Marketing and After Sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars. "For this reason, after the GTI Meeting at Lake Wörthersee was unfortunately cancelled, we decided pretty quickly to offer the GTI fan community in Wolfsburg a new home for the event. When planning the event, we also want to take into account the ideas of the fans, because it should above all be a meeting for them. Accordingly, we will certainly be able to offer some highlights and surprises in the coming year."

GTI – these three letters have stood for sportiness, emotions and dynamics for almost half a century. The fan community all over the world continues to grow up to the present day, and the fans of the cult brand meet regularly in clubs and exchange information with each other in dedicated communities. Since 1982, the largest GTI Meet has traditionally taken place at Lake Wörthersee in Austria – but the local municipality Maria Wörth recently took the decision that it no longer wanted to host the annual event in future.

Volkswagen has decided to continue this tradition in Wolfsburg from next year: In addition to vehicle presentations, stage shows and club meets, there will be many other interesting events and surprises for GTI enthusiasts. The areas and infrastructure in Wolfsburg offer ideal prerequisites for welcoming a large number of visitors with their vehicles. Under the motto "Coming Home", Volkswagen will make the Wolfsburg location the new home of the GTI fan community.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

At Tech Day 2023, Volkswagen Group Technology provided an outlook of upcoming electric car innovations in the areas of batteries, charging and electronic components. The focus was on the electric drive system of the future. For this purpose, Volkswagen is taking care of all the central components itself and, in addition to batteries and electric motors, is now developing pulse inverters and thermal management systems internally. The Volkswagen drive system coming from one source offers significant efficiency and cost advantages: Up to 20 percent more efficiency is possible through the optimal combination of individual components alone.

Oliver Blume, Chair of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group, said: “The Volkswagen Group and its brands stand for first-class products and technologies. Thanks to the size and breadth of the Group, as well as our in-house expertise, we can leverage enormous economies of scale. This benefits our customers and makes our vehicles even better.”

Thomas Schmall, member of the Volkswagen Group Board of Management with responsibility for Technology, said: “Our goal is to achieve technological leadership, also in electric mobility. That’s why here, too, we rely on our internal competencies and, after battery cells and electric motors, we are taking over the development of pulse inverters and thermal management systems. In future, this will make the Volkswagen Group one of the only car manufacturers in the world that’s able to offer a holistically optimised complete system.”

Daniela Cavallo, Chairwoman of the General Works Council of the Volkswagen Group, added: "The know-how and innovative strength of the Volkswagen colleagues are unique worldwide. Promoting and exploiting this strength again and again helps us not only in competition, but also in the transformation of the company."

“Designed by Volkswagen”: Pulse inverters and thermal management systems

The pulse inverter is the brain of the electric drive train and is largely responsible for efficiency and performance. For the first pulse inverter to be “designed by Volkswagen”, the developers of these core components redesigned the hardware and software from the ground up. Thanks to the modular toolkit principle, this can be implemented in everything from entry-level engines to sports cars with an output of over 500 kW and more in future. The technology is currently being developed for series production maturity and can already be used with the next MEB generation.

When it comes to thermal management systems, Volkswagen is working on entirely new solutions. While today a large number of individual modules and long hose connections are used, in future these will be replaced with an extremely compact, integrated thermal module. This will control the entire air conditioning, including for the high-voltage battery, and thus will have a major impact on the vehicle’s range and fast-charging capability. The new all-in-one module is also significantly lighter, more robust and more efficient than current systems.

In addition to efficiency, the main focus of the development of all central electric drive components is scalability – because high economies of scale reduce costs.

Group Technology: The technology powerhouse of the Group

Volkswagen Group Technology bundles Group-wide activities in the areas of batteries, charging and electric components and supports the and supports the brands as a group-wide technology supplier. The subsidiaries PowerCo (batteries) and Elli (charging and energy) are also involved here. Among other things, the high-tech portfolio comprises the unified cell, which will be utilised in all Volkswagen Group

vehicles as of 2025 and will set a new benchmark in terms of battery technology. The division also includes the Platform Business, which covers cooperation with external partners like Ford and Mahindra. Around the world, Volkswagen Group Technology employs around 70,000 people.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Volkswagen is making the all-electric ID. family even more sustainable – including the choice of materials for the interior. During the course of this year, the ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7 will receive selected innovations that were first used in mass production in the ID. Buzz. As one example of this, VW uses Seaqual® yarn as a seat cover material. This is made from 10 per cent collected marine debris and 90 per cent recycled PES yarn. The CO2 emissions from production are almost one third lower than for conventional cover materials.

Silke Bagschik, Head of Product Line E-Mobility, explains: “Through the widespread use of recycled materials and the animal-leather-free interior in our ID. models, we are further improving the eco-balance of our vehicles - with high demands on haptical and long-term quality. The feedback from our customers confirms that we will continue to expand these sustainable approaches in the future.”

ID. Buzz as a pioneer for recycling innovations. Volkswagen already uses a large number of new materials in the interior of the ID. Buzz, and these will now be introduced in the other models of the ID. family step-by-step. For example, alternative materials made of ocean plastic or old PET bottles (to be exact, 63 size 500 ml bottles) are used in numerous places in the interior of the new Volkswagen bus. The outer material of a seat cover is made of Seaqual® yarn, which is comprised of 10 per cent collected marine debris and 90 per cent recycled PES yarn. This saves 32 per cent of CO2 emissions compared with conventional surface materials. In seat covers with ArtVelours Eco®, the recycling share is 71 per cent. In addition, the surfaces of the headliner and floor covering in the ID. Buzz are made completely from recycled polyester. Recycled plastics can also be found in the insulating layer of the carpet. The same applies to components such as the underbody cladding and the wheel housing liners.

In addition, Volkswagen no longer uses chrome for trim parts on the doors, instrument panel and steering wheel clip of the ID. Buzz because the production of chrome harms the environment. The chrome has been replaced by a liquid paint with chrome look that has a bio-based binder. Some of these recycling innovations from the ID. Buzz will now be introduced in the ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7.

Recycled materials as a full-value alternative. Recyclates are processed used materials that are applied to new products. In the case of plastics, such materials include PET bottles and old fishing nets. These plastic waste materials are processed into granulates and can then be reused. Depending on requirements, components can be made using only a small share of recycled materials or completely from them. In the interior, the reused materials must always offer the same characteristics as conventional ones. This applies to both their look and feel as well as to their durability and longevity.

Volkswagen on the Way to ZERO. By 2030, Volkswagen is aiming to cut carbon emissions per vehicle by 40 per cent, and the company plans to have a climate-neutral balance by 2050 at the latest. To achieve these goals, VW analyses and optimises the complete vehicle life cycle: from basic research, through development and production, up to end-of-life recycling. Volkswagen also strives to realise closed material cycles for all the raw materials used.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

This year, Volkswagen will continue the success story of the million-selling Touareg with a comprehensive technical and visual update of the premium SUV. The rear and front of the luxury SUV have been redesigned, the chassis has been further developed and impresses with its combination of comfort and performance. Before the world premiere in the summer, Volkswagen is now providing a first preview of the update for its top model.

The camouflaged new Touareg is still completing its final test miles in Swedish Lapland. Although the design modifications are still hidden under an oversized QR code wrap, the pictures of the disguised prototype already provide a concrete preview of the first technical details. At the front, for example, it is possible to see the newly developed IQ.LIGHT HD matrix headlights and the elements of an also new LED light strip integrated between them.

IQ.LIGHT HD matrix headlight with 38,400 micro LEDs
HD stands for High Definition, a very high resolution. What is meant is a sea of extremely bright points of light – generated by a total of 38,400 micro LEDs. They turn night into day and ensure significantly more brightness on the road - without dazzling oncoming traffic. 19,200 micro-LEDs are distributed over the new headlights on each side of the vehicle. The matrix system projects an interactive carpet of light into the lane of the luxury SUV. This so-called "lane light" makes driving at night more comfortable and makes it easier to drive through narrow motorway construction sites in the dark, as the carpet of light optimally illuminates the lane.

Illuminated VW logo on the rear. As the first model from Volkswagen, the new Touareg has an illuminated logo on the rear end. Since January 2023, the Volkswagen badge lit up in red has also been permitted in Europe. Previously the shining brand logo was allowed only in markets such as China or the US.

New chassis generation. Volkswagen has further developed the chassis of the always all-wheel drive Touareg. Among other things, a roof load sensor is now used, which is networked with the chassis electronics. The advantage: increased agility when the roof is not loaded. If, on the other hand, a roof box is installed, the sensor recognizes this and passes this information on to assistance systems such as the ESC. This increases the driving stability of the Touareg.

The standard steel spring running gear and the optional two-chamber air suspension running gear have also been given a new setup to achieve an even larger bandwidth between maximum comfort and optimum performance.

Enhanced vehicle interior. The Touareg is equipped with the "Innovision Cockpit". It is operated via the central touchscreen (display diagonal: 38.1 centimeters or 15 inches), the multifunction steering wheel and analogue elements such as the volume control in the center console. The "Innovision Cockpit" of the new Touareg offers, among other things, lane-precise navigation and high-resolution HD map data. Voice control has also been further developed. The app integration via smartphone and "App Connect" (Apple CarPlay, Android Auto) can now also be done wirelessly.

The high quality level of the Touareg was further improved by evaluating customer feedback: the armrests and the center console panels are softer - a plus in comfort. The new Touareg thus also stands for the goal of gearing Volkswagen models even more consistently to the needs of customers. The update makes the Touareg a well-balanced SUV all-rounder that masters long distances as well as everyday life.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

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