Articles
Volkswagen is to reduce the amount it invests every year by €1 billion (£0.72bn) and is to focus R&D on electric and hybrid vehicles following the emissions scandal.
Volkswagen, which owns the VW, Skoda, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands, spends more on R&D than any other company in the world. In 2014, the company reported an €11.5 billion (£8.6 billion) spend on R&D.
The investment cut, which is reported to include reductions on models and technology development, comes as Volkswagen begins to foot the bill of modifying the 11 million vehicles fitted with so-called 'defeat devices' to falsify emissions test results. The company has said physical modifications to remedy the issue will have to be made to the 1.6 version of the affected diesel engine, whereas the larger 2.0 version will be remedied with a software change.
The company is to focus R&D on the development of a standardised electric architecture for cars and light commercial vehicles, as well as clean diesel technologies. Dr. Herbert Diess, chief executive of Volkswagen, said: “The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future. We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program.”
Only diesel drives with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and AdBlue technology will be installed in vehicles in Europe and the US, the company said. A modular electric system will be developed as a “multi-brand toolkit” for all body structures and vehicle types, and will enable an all-electric range of up to 500 km.
The company has also stopped production of its flagship Phaeton car, which will be relaunched at the end of the decade as an all-electric vehicle.
Dr. Herbert Diess added: “We are very aware that we can only implement these innovations for the future of the Volkswagen brand effectively if we succeed with our efficiency program and in giving our product range a new focus.”