“Conventional engines will remain indispensable for the foreseeable future,” Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller told the annual general meeting in Hanover last week, but he emphasised that the group are “pressing ahead with the transformation of mobility.The future is electric. We intend to be № 1 in e-mobility by 2025”, Muller told the meeting of 3,000 shareholders.
The newly-established Centre of Excellence in Salzgitter will bundle group-wide competence in battery cells and modules, says Müller: “Volkswagen needs to transform, because our industry will see more fundamental changes in the coming decade than we have experienced over the past 100 years.”
Müller thinks the new era calls for new ways of thinking, too: “More agile and courageous. More entrepreneurial and pragmatic.” He emphasised this was just as important as technological change. “I am convinced that an open culture, strong values, and integrity in our actions are essential for the future of Volkswagen.” [Strategy 2025] has a clear goal: “What sounds great on paper must become part and parcel of everyday behaviour.”
Another central element of the program for the future is partnerships to develop new business opportunities or advance new technologies: “Part of becoming the ‘new’ Volkswagen involves opening up as a company. In recent months, we have forged many promising partnerships.” He referred to several examples such as the plans to enter the economy segment with Tata, the envisaged joint venture with JAC in China to develop attractively priced electric cars, and numerous cooperation projects in the field of mobility services. “Building great cars is no longer enough” to secure the future, Müller says. “Today’s customers expect more with regard to mobility. And these new customer requirements also mean that we need to change.”
