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The Volkswagen Group and the Bosch Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the establishment of a European battery equipment solution provider. The two companies plan to supply integrated battery production systems as well as on-site ramp-up and maintenance support for battery cell and system manufacturers. The companies are aiming for cost and technology leadership in the industrialization of battery technology and the volume production of sustainable, cutting-edge batteries. Through the “local for local” production approach, this will also be a step towards the objective of carbon-neutral mobility. In Europe alone, the Volkswagen Group plans to build six cell factories by 2030.

The Volkswagen Group and the Robert Bosch Group are setting up a project unit to explore the possibilities of industrial-scale solutions for battery manufacturing in Europe . The corresponding memorandum of understanding was signed yesterday by Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group in charge of Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, and Rolf Najork, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch Group and Chairman of the Executive Board of Bosch Rexroth.

The companies aim to supply the entire range of processes and components needed for the large-scale manufacture of battery cells and systems. The industry-wide demand is enormous: In Europe alone, various companies plan to build cell factories with a total yearly capacity of around 700 gigawatt-hours by 2030.

For both partners, this alliance is a further step towards playing leading roles in the world of e-mobility. The partnership will draw on complementary areas of expertise: While Volkswagen is an accomplished at-scale automaker and is on its way to becoming a major battery cell manufacturer, Bosch has excellent know-how in factory automation and systems integration.

Thomas Schmall commented: “Europe has the unique chance to become a global battery powerhouse in the years to come. There is a strong and growing demand for all aspects of battery production, including the equipment of new gigafactories. Volkswagen and Bosch will explore opportunities to develop and shape this novel, multibillion-euro industry in Europe. Our decision to actively engage in the vertical integration of the battery-making value chain will tap considerable new profit pools. Setting out to establish a fully localized European supply chain for e-mobility made in Europe certainly marks a rare opportunity in business history.”

Rolf Najork stated: “Together with Volkswagen, we seek a path to industrialize production processes for battery cells with standardized equipment. We have the best prerequisites for this: Bosch is not only the world's biggest automotive supplier, but also one of the leading suppliers of factory equipment. We understand how battery technology works, and know how to manufacture it. With more than 135 years of automotive experience and our proven industrialization expertise, we want to serve the growing demand for batteries. European industry has the potential to become a technology driver for the ecological transformation of the economy.”

Volkswagen and Bosch have formed the project unit with the target of preparing the establishment of the new company by the end of 2022.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

“Volkswagen is continuing to press ahead with the transition to e-mobility despite the limited supply of semiconductors,” said Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the Volkswagen brand. Last year, the company delivered more electric vehicles worldwide than ever before, handing over more than 369,000 electric cars (+73 percent versus 2020), including approximately 106,000 PHEVs (+33 percent) and 263,000 all-electric vehicles (+97 percent) to customers. Volkswagen thus doubled its BEV deliveries year-on-year. “In a very short time, we have reached a top position for all-electric vehicles in Europe. With our ACCELERATE strategy and the expansion of the model portfolio, we will continue to increase the pace of the e-mobility offensive. Before the end of this year, the ID. BUZZ will represent yet another emotional model in our ID. family,” said Brandstätter.

Volkswagen delivered around 4.897 million vehicles across all drive systems to customers around the world. This is a decline of around 8 percent compared to the previous year. The lagging supply of semiconductors caused limitations in production throughout the course of the year, which ultimately had a major impact on the unit sales figures. “Volkswagen achieved satisfactory sales under extremely challenging conditions. The massive effects on production brought on by the semiconductor situation could not be entirely compensated for over the course of the year, however. Nonetheless, our record-breaking order backlog of 543,000 vehicles in Europe alone - thereof 95,000 IDs - shows clearly that the demand for Volkswagen vehicles continues to be very high,” said Klaus Zellmer, Board Member for Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen.

Volkswagen doubles deliveries of electric vehicles

The proportion of purely battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid vehicles nearly doubled to 7.5 percent of total deliveries (2020: 4 percent). In Europa, these vehicles now account for 19.3 percent of Volkswagen’s deliveries (2020: 12.6 percent). Volkswagen recorded a significant increase in deliveries of electric vehicles particularly in the United States, China and Germany. In the company’s home market, one in four Volkswagen vehicles was a plug-in vehicle. The electric offensive in China is on track even though the supply bottlenecks for semiconductors observed towards the end of the year also affected the electric vehicles that had previously been prioritized for production. A total of 77,100 BEVs (+437 percent) were delivered in China, including more than 70,000 from the ID. family, making Volkswagen one of the five biggest BEV providers in China. A further considerable increase is planned for 2022. Close to 17,000 BEVs were sold in the United States, almost twenty times more than in the previous year. This brought Volkswagen up to fourth place among BEV manufacturers.

World car ID.4 is a bestseller

Volkswagen’s most popular BEV model worldwide is the ID.4, which lived up to its name as a world car in its first year on the market. The ID.4 was the most frequently delivered of the 263,000 BEVs with 119,650 units sold, followed by the ID.3 (around 76,000), the e-up! (approximately 41,500) and just under 18,000 units of the ID.6, which Volkswagen offers exclusively in the Chinese market. In Europe, the ID.4 topped the BEV charts in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Ireland. The all-electric SUV ID.4 was also successfully rolled out in the United States with nearly 17,000 units being handed over to customers. In China, the vehicle already ranks second among all-electric SUVs.

Focus on SUVs pays off – Golf still number one

SUVs are the fastest-growing market segment. Volkswagen systematically geared its portfolio to this trend at an early stage. SUVs now make up more than 40 percent of all vehicle deliveries (previous year: 34.8 percent). Volkswagen generated as much as three-quarters of its sales revenue in the United States with SUVs, selling its highest number of vehicles there since 2013. Nevertheless, the Golf held on to its top position as the best-selling car in Germany in 2021 despite the strained supply situation for semiconductors.

Volkswagen expects that the first half of 2022 at least will remain highly volatile and challenging owing to persistent supply bottlenecks for semiconductors. However, the company expects to be able to stabilize production as the year goes on and lower its high backlog of orders as quickly as possible.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Volkswagen is driving forward the shift to electric vehicle manufacturing with its ACCELERATE strategy. Today’s official start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the completion of Volkswagen’s successful transformation of its Zwickau plant into a dedicated electric vehicle production facility. The long-established site in western Saxony is the first large-scale facility of any volume manufacturer worldwide to switch over all production from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles. Six models from the Volkswagen, Audi and CUPRA brands will now be manufactured in Zwickau based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). The plants in Emden (ID.4), Hanover (ID. Buzz) and Chattanooga (USA, ID.4) will be added to the electric vehicle production network this year. The Volkswagen brand has thus laid the foundations for building 1.2 million all-electric-vehicles at its sites in Europe, the USA and China in 2022 based on the MEB.

Dr. Christian Vollmer, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Brand responsible for Production: “Volkswagen will continue to increase the pace of e-mobility in 2022 with its ACCELERATE strategy and the expansion of the model portfolio. The Zwickau production plant has paved the way for the Group to do this with six ramp-ups from three brands in just 26 months. The knowledge and experience gained will help us to continue to electrify our production network quickly and efficiently.”

Dr. Stefan Loth, Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen Saxony: “After Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden, we have now converted a second Volkswagen factory in Saxony to dedicated electric vehicle production. The start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the successful transformation of the Zwickau plant on the product side. Our focus now – depending on how the semiconductor situation pans out – will be on achieving full capacity. This year we aim to exceed the 180,000 vehicles Volkswagen Saxony built in 2021.”

Jens Rothe, Chairman of the General Works Council at Volkswagen Saxony: “Switching over to electric vehicle production was exactly the right decision for the Zwickau plant. Demand for our models is booming, and our team’s jobs will be safe for years to come. We are a trailblazer of change and have repaid the Group’s trust in us. This is first and foremost a fantastic achievement by our workforce.”

An efficient digital model factory

Since 2018, around 1.2 billion euros has been spent on converting the Zwickau plant from ICE vehicle production into a digital, flexible, highly efficient showcase factory for the manufacture of electric vehicles. Increasing use is being made of technology such as smart Industry 4.0 robots and driverless transportation systems that take components to the assembly line completely autonomously.

Close to 40 percent of the investment volume went into the enhancement and expansion of the body shop alone. This area’s already high level of automation now reaches nearly 90 percent, and the number of state-of-the-art robots has risen from 1,200 to 1,625. Automation in the assembly line has also been almost doubled to 28 percent, and production ergonomics have improved significantly. Only jobs involving monotonous or physically strenuous work have been affected, such as working with one’s hands above one’s shoulders or overhead work.

In total, more than 50,000 square meters of new building space have been created, such as for the expansion of the press shop, which is where all shell body parts for the electric models are now pressed on site – saving 9,000 truck trips per year. Other major projects involved construction of a new logistics building as well as a battery sequencer, which is now the tallest building at the Zwickau site. The volume of investment for these three projects alone is around 115 million euros.

The transformation to electric vehicle production in Zwickau has created enduring, future-proof jobs. The some 9,000 permanent staff working at the site received training in the new technology as part of a major training initiative. For example, all employees attended information events on electric vehicles. A total of 3,000 production workers completed the training center’s e-mobility program to prepare them for the new production requirements. By the end of 2020, the Zwickau team had put in a total of around 20,000 days of training.

Models and production figures

In Zwickau, six models from three brands will leave the production line – the Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 plus the Audi Q4 e-tron, Q4 Sportback e-tron and CUPRA Born. The production capacity corresponds to an annual output of more than 300,000 vehicles, making the Zwickau plant currently the most efficient electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Europe.

Green production

With the models produced in Zwickau, Volkswagen only delivers vehicles to customers that are produced in a carbon-neutral manner throughout the entire supply and production chain. In the manufacturing process, carbon generation is avoided or reduced as far as possible – and any unavoidable emissions are offset through climate action.

The carbon avoidance measures in manufacturing also extend to energy-intensive production of battery cells. Here, it was agreed that suppliers would use green electricity from renewable sources in cell production. The life-cycle assessment of electric vehicles can be improved further with this important tool.

At the Zwickau plant, the external power supply was switched over to 100 percent green electricity as early as 2017. Since production of the ID.3 began in November 2019, any remaining emissions from the site’s highly efficient cogeneration unit and the entire upstream chain have been offset for all models manufactured in Zwickau through certified climate projects implemented in accordance with officially recognized standards.

Target vision of the Volkswagen brand

At the heart of the “Way to ZERO” decarbonization program is the brand’s ACCELERATE strategy aimed at stepping up the pace of the electric offensive. Volkswagen intends to be net carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. The interim target is to cut CO2 emissions per vehicle by 40 percent in Europe by 2030 (baseline: 2018). The production, including supply chains, and operation of electric cars are to be made net carbon neutral.

Added to this is the systematic recycling of the high-voltage batteries from old electric vehicles. The goal is the full electrification of the new vehicle fleet. By 2030, at least 70 percent of all Volkswagen’s unit sales in Europe will be all-electric vehicles – i.e. substantially more than one million vehicles. In North America and China, the share of electric vehicles in unit sales is expected to reach at least 50 percent. In addition, Volkswagen will be launching at least one new electric car each year.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

The T-Roc R has been the powerful flagship of the compact SUVs from Volkswagen since 2019. Pre-sales of the new edition of this performance model are now underway. The new T-Roc R impresses with a 221 kW (300 PS) 4-cylinder TSI engine, 7-speed DSG gearbox and the intelligent 4MOTION all-wheel drive system. This combination and other technical features ensure exceptional agility, which is reflected in both the dynamic exterior design and the high-quality interior. The dynamic crossover model now also features innovative technologies from higher vehicle classes, including the high-output IQ.LIGHT system, new assist systems and advanced digital services.

The new T Roc R is available to order now, with prices starting from 48,445 euros. More than ever, the new edition of the extremely sporty compact SUV guarantees the kind of driving dynamics typical for R models. It completes the sprint from a standing start to 100 km/h in just 4.9 seconds. This thrilling performance is now combined with an extensive technology update. The new T-Roc R comes with the advanced assist systems Front Assist and Lane Assist as standard. And the new IQ.DRIVE Travel Assist and predictive cruise control enable assisted steering, braking and acceleration at speeds of up to 210 km/h. The choice of digital functions also reaches a new level and includes natural Online Voice Control as well as access to streaming services. We Connect Plus services are available free of charge in Europe for one year as part of the standard package.

Supreme performance. “We have sharpened the design of the T-Roc R and emphasised its athletic personality even more than before. As a result, the new model meets the premium standards of Volkswagen R in every possible way,” explains Reinhold Ivenz, the new Head of the R Business Unit at Volkswagen. With its model-specific drive and running gear technology, the new T-Roc R guarantees a fascinating motorsport feeling. Its powerful 2.0-litre TSI engine delivers a peak output of 221 kW (300 PS) and a maximum torque of 400 Nm. This power is transferred to the road via a 7-speed DSG gearbox (with Launch Control function) and the intelligent 4MOTION all-wheel drive system. Custom sports running gear and progressive steering allow extremely agile handling characteristics. A model-specific button on the newly designed multifunction leather steering wheel (with paddles and touch controls) allows direct access to the driving mode selection, where a Race mode is also available.

Distinctive appearance. The vehicle’s dynamic personality is also clearly shown by the exterior appearance of the new T-Roc R. The newly designed model-specific front end has a particularly muscular look with a bumper in R styling and striking vertical daytime running lights. The IQ.LIGHT LED matrix headlights standard in Germany, dark-tinted LED tail light clusters and also the R logo on the black radiator grille and boot lid underline the distinctive exterior appearance of the new T-Roc R. In the interior with its R-specific trim elements, high-quality accents are provided by the standard Digital Cockpit, the new and particularly elegant surfaces of the dash panel with decorative stitching, the new sports leather steering wheel and the infotainment system display in tablet design.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com