This year marks the first anniversary of volkswagen brand ACCELERATE's strategy, and the Volkswagen brand says that its plan to transform into a technology company has made good progress, reaching several important milestones. In fiscal 2021, the Volkswagen brand sold a record number of electric vehicles worldwide, totaling more than 369,000 units, a significant increase of 73% year-on-year. Among them, 106,000 plug-in and hybrid models were sold, and 263,000 pure electric models were sold, doubling year-on-year.
Based on the ACCELERATE strategy, although the total sales volume of the Volkswagen brand in 2021 decreased by 8% to 4.9 million units, its sales revenue increased by 7% year-on-year to 76.1 billion euros; operating profit reached 2.5 billion euros, an increase of 400% year-on-year; operating sales return was 3.3%, an increase of 2.7% year-on-year, and it is expected to reach 6% in 2023.
"The business environment in 2021 will be extremely difficult, but our profitability, resilience and efficiency have improved significantly. At the same time, based on the ACCELERATE strategy, we have once again accelerated the pace of our transformation to technology companies. At the 2022 annual press conference held by the Volkswagen brand yesterday (March 16), Ralf Brandstatter, CEO of the Volkswagen passenger car brand, said, "In 2022, we will continue to promote our own transformation and enhance brand resilience." ”
Ralf Brandstatter, CEO of Volkswagen's passenger car brand
In March last year, the Volkswagen brand announced the ACCELERATE strategy, which aims to further accelerate electrification and digital transformation, which focuses on four main aspects, namely electrification, software integration, business model and autonomous driving. This year marks the first anniversary of the ACCELERATE strategy, and the Volkswagen brand says that its plans to transform into a technology company have made good progress and reached several important milestones.
Strategic achievements of the Volkswagen brand ACCELERATE
In fiscal 2021, the Volkswagen brand sold a record number of electric vehicles worldwide, totaling more than 369,000 units, a significant increase of 73% year-on-year. Among them, 106,000 plug-in and hybrid models were sold, and 263,000 pure electric models were sold, doubling year-on-year. In terms of products, in 2021, the Volkswagen brand will launch a total of three electric models: ID.4, ID.5 and high-performance GTX versions, as well as ID.6 specially built for the Chinese market. Recently, ID.Buzz also achieved its global debut, planning to open pre-sales in Europe in May this year and deliver in the autumn.
In terms of production capacity, in order to better meet the rapidly growing market demand, the Volkswagen brand is systematically expanding production capacity. Following the transformation of the Zwickau plant into a plant specializing in electric models, three plants in Emden, Hanover and Chattanooga in the United States will also start producing electric vehicles in 2022. Not only that, based on the ACCELERATE strategy, Volkswagen will continue to promote the renovation of the main plant in Wolfsburg, and plans to invest 2 billion euros in the construction of a dedicated production facility near the main plant, which will start production of the first pure electric model ID.3 in 2023 and the second electric model Trinity in 2026.
To accelerate its transformation into a technology-based company, Volkswagen plans to invest an additional €800 million in the Sandkamp campus, a new research and development center. In the future, the development of a new SSP electric platform and the production of Trinity models will be carried out here. With this, Volkswagen wants to shorten the vehicle development cycle by 25 percent, from 54 months to 40 months.
Its milestones in the field of digitalization are mainly reflected in the aspects of OTAs and software upgrades. In 2021, Volkswagen will achieve more than 100,000 upgrades on its ID. family models in Europe. This year, the feature will be gradually rolled out in markets such as China and the United States. In addition, the new ID.3.1 version of the software can further shorten the charging time and improve the driving comfort, at present, ID.5 and ID.Buzz models will be delivered with a new version of the software, in the future all ID. family model users can gradually achieve updates.
The above milestones have had a huge impact on the operating data of the Volkswagen brand. Based on the ACCELERATOR strategy, volkswagen brand sales in 2021 fell by 8% to 4.9 million units, but its sales revenue increased by 7% year-on-year to 76.1 billion euros, operating profit reached 2.5 billion euros, an increase of 451% year-on-year, and operating sales return of 3.3%, an increase of 2.7% year-on-year, and is expected to reach 6% in 2023. Thanks to strict expenditure management, Volkswagen exceeded its fixed cost target for 2021, reducing it by around 1 billion euros compared to 2019.
Looking ahead, Volkswagen expects chip shortages to improve in the second half of this year at the latest, helping to significantly increase sales of pure electric vehicles, and is expected to increase operating profit, sales revenue and operating sales returns again this year. At present, about half of the Volkswagen brand's R&D expenditure is spent on e-mobility, and it plans to invest 18 billion euros in the areas of electric mobility, hybrid and digitalization by 2026. (China Economic Network reporter Chen Mengyu)