Published

VW Brand Chief Sees 3-4 Years of Restructuring Ahead

Herbert Diess, who heads Volkswagen Group’s VW brand, says the unit will won’t finish restructuring and recovering from its diesel emission cheating scandal until about 2020.

Share

Herbert Diess, who heads Volkswagen Group’s VW brand, says the unit will won’t finish restructuring and recovering from its diesel emission cheating scandal until about 2020. Still, he claims the brand already is "getting back on track."

Global VW brand sales this year through the first eight months were flat at 3.83 million units. But the debut of redesigned Tiguan crossover vehicle and Touran MPV helped boost volume 5% in August.

The brand is scrambling to streamline production, simplify its product lineup and grant more autonomy to regional markets. Part of the relaunch is a massive shift in product focus from diesels to hybrid and all-electric vehicles.

Diess says the latter move is personified by the I.D. concept that VW unveiled at the Paris auto show this week. The 167-hp electric hatchback, which will go into production in 2020, promises a range of 300-400 km (190-250 miles).

RELATED CONTENT

  • On Electric Pickups, Flying Taxis, and Auto Industry Transformation

    Ford goes for vertical integration, DENSO and Honeywell take to the skies, how suppliers feel about their customers, how vehicle customers feel about shopping, and insights from a software exec

  • Jeeps Modified for Moab

    On Easter morning in Moab, Utah, when the population of that exceedingly-hard-to-get-to town in one of the most beautiful settings on Earth has more than doubled, some people won’t be hunting for Easter eggs, but will be trying to get a good look at one of the vehicles six that Jeep has prepared for real-life, fast-feedback from the assembled at the annual Easter Jeep Safari.

  • GM Develops a New Electrical Platform

    GM engineers create a better electrical architecture that can handle the ever-increasing needs of vehicle systems

Gardner Business Media - Strategic Business Solutions