Volkswagen also confirms its R Performance sub-brand is going all-electric by 2030.
In the wake of the Dieselgate scandal in 2017, many were of the opinion that the only way that Volkswagen could redeem itself a second time was if the company committed itself to electric vehicles (EVs). And now it looks like that’s exactly what they’re going to do, at least in Europe.
Volkswagen’s new CEO, Thomas Schaefer, is accelerating the company’s transition to a full EV lineup by 2033 in their home market of Europe. The initial plan was to hit this target only by 2035. 2035, by the way, is most likely when petrol and diesel vehicles will start to be outlawed in many parts of Europe. They will achieve this accelerated timeline by doing what Volkswagen does best – platform sharing.
Instead of having specific factories release specific models, the company will reduce the number of models on offer while also having more of those models be built on fewer different platforms. That will allow their factories to churn out a larger variety of EVs with fewer retooling requirements.
By 2026, Volkswagen has aimed to introduce 10 new EV models into the market including smaller and more affordable ID.1 and ID.2 models to replace the current E-up! and T-Roc models. Other upcoming electric models include the ID.7 and ID.7 Tourer, likely Passat and Arteon replacements. Currently, Volkswagen sells the ID.3 5-door hatchback, the ID.4 5-door compact crossover, the ID.5 Coupé compact crossover, the ID.6 SUV, and the ID.Buzz minivan.
The German carmaker also confirmed to Autocar that they would be taking their ‘R’ performance division fully-electric by the end of the decade. The head of their R division, Reinhold Ivenz said that several electric R vehicles are already in the pipeline but did not share when the first all-electric R performance model would debut. It’s possible that there might be a dedicated performance electric R model built on Volkswagen’s Scalable Systems Platform.
More likely, we’ll see R derivatives of Volkswagen’s existing ID models. It’s also possible that mild hybird or plug-in hybrid high performance R models will be the first to appear. This is the route taken by both BMW M and Mercedes-AMG, so there’s no reason why Volkswagen’s R division shouldn’t also think about a step-by-step approach to electrification.
