The electric and hybrid car market may be dominated by Japanese manufacturers with North American carmakers playing catch-up – but now the Germans are determined to get in on the act.
Volkswagen has revealed an ambitious electric and hybrid drive vehicle strategy with the company targeting a test fleet of 500 electric Volkswagen Golf models by 2011. From 2013 it plans to put the electric version of the Up!, known as the E-UP into production, and this will be followed by the E-Golf and the E-Jetta at the end of the same year. In the following years, an E-traction approach is expected to extend to other models in its line-up.
We should get a glimpse of Volkswagen’s electric strategy when the Geneva Motor Show opens its doors to the Press today, with VW planning to showcase a Touareg Hybrid (see article). In August 2012, a Jetta Hybrid will make its debut and a year later the Passat Hybrid will also be released. A hybrid Golf will follow shortly thereafter.
According to Dr Martin Winterkorn, the chairman of the board of management for Volkswagen AG, there will be high volume production of the Golf and Jetta hybrid and electric vehicles by 2013. He said the goal is to make Volkswagen the “market leader in e-mobility by the year 2018” and stated that the company’s target is to attain an electric vehicle market share of three per cent with its entire range of products.
For now, Volkswagen will focus on conducting field studies in key strategic markets and will look at a group-wide implementation of hybrid technology. He said that Volkswagen hopes to continue to exploit the potential of internal combustion engines while also aiming to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
