Hyperdrive
VW Challenges Rivals With $66 Billion for Electric Car Era
- Investment surges 36% to 12 billion euros a year in new plan
- VW ‘resolutely pressing ahead’ with investment, chairman says
A lithium-ion battery pack for a Volkswagen AG ID.3 on the electric vehicle assembly line in Zwickau, Germany.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Volkswagen AG will ramp up spending on electric vehicles, automated driving and other new technology by 36% as the world’s largest automaker challenges rivals to keep pace with an aggressive shift into the post-combustion era.
The new five-year budget for investment in hybridization, electric mobility and digitalization totals 60 billion euros ($66 billion), compared with 44 billion euros previously, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer said Friday. The spending amounts to 12 billion euros a year.