A few days ago, volkswagen group held a 2022 annual press conference, at the press conference, volkswagen but released a lot of "big words", which the amount of information is also very huge, so the next small editor will give everyone a make-up lesson, see what Volkswagen wants to do this time as a German car giant?
On the whole, the content of this conference is very simple, nothing more than to review the past, look forward to the future, review the success or failure of the past year, and then establish a new year's FLAG, but the biggest difference between this conference and the past is that Volkswagen is intensively implementing its most critical electrification transformation strategy.
In the past two years, "traditional car companies to the field of new energy" has almost become the keyword of the automotive industry, the reason presumably does not need to be repeated, everyone understands that new energy vehicles are the trend of the times, in all car companies are flocking to the new energy market, the public will naturally not just stand by. So we saw volkswagen come up with a strategic plan for accelerated transformation called ACCELERATOR, and now we have a summary of the first anniversary of this strategic plan.
First, at the conference, Volkswagen Brand CEO Ralf Brandst tter pointed out that in the past year, Volkswagen's ACCELERATE strategy has achieved remarkable results. In the context of the general depression in the automotive industry in 2021, although Volkswagen's sales volume inevitably declined, it still achieved substantial growth in sales revenue: full-year revenue of 76.1 billion euros, an increase of 7% year-on-year; operating profit reached 2.5 billion euros, an increase of 451% year-on-year, almost five times.
As for the declining new car sales data, Volkswagen China CEO Feng Sihan said that this is due to chip shortages and epidemic shutdowns caused by orders can not be delivered normally, but the number of orders to be delivered has increased, and customer demand for Volkswagen has never decreased; regarding the rising sales, Volkswagen attributed the credit to "a richer product portfolio and pricing advantages". In 2021, Volkswagen delivered 369,000 new energy vehicles worldwide, of which the sales volume of pure electric models almost doubled compared with 2020, reaching 263,000 units. Not only that, Volkswagen's profitability in the North and South American markets has picked up, and Alexander Seitz, CFO of Volkswagen brand, proudly said at the meeting: "In 2021, we have further strengthened the resilience of the Volkswagen brand." ”
Secondly, the conference from beginning to end are emphasizing one thing, that is, the electrification transformation process of volkswagen group, during the conference is to constantly name the electric vehicle leading enterprise Tesla, the confrontation between the representatives of traditional car companies and the new power giants, Xiaobian seems to have seen the sword and light in the air. Perhaps it is all kinds of good data that gives the Volkswagen Group the confidence, Volkswagen brand CEO Bered released a "bold ambition" at the conference site, he mentioned that Volkswagen's goal by 2030: pure electric model sales account for more than 70% of the European market, in North America and China more than 50%.
Although Volkswagen's impression of the Chinese people in the era of fuel vehicles is not bad, in the electric era, most consumers no longer blindly pursue the traditional brand identity, but pay more attention to the convenient car experience in the actual travel scene, especially in the intelligent field that Volkswagen is not currently good at, in other new energy brands, they have "rolled out of the flowers", can Volkswagen still compare with them?
You really don't have to say that a new car released by Volkswagen last week does give us a good prospect. Yes, this new car is the ID.Buzz. We all know that ID.Buzz is a car that pays tribute to volkswagen T1, with a unique shape and special background history, as Volkswagen's first pure electric MPV, ID.Buzz completely fills the expectations of the masses, and this is also the public's favorable trump card - a long history, enduring shape, and consumers' special feelings for it.
ID.Buzz modeling reproduction is the Volkswagen T1 produced in the 1950s, all said that fashion is a circle, the automobile industry is no exception, and this time Volkswagen moved out of this "old ancestor", but not just borrowed a shell. ID.Buzz the basic parameters, I believe that all Volkswagen fans have been familiar with the heart, in addition to the 0.285 ultra-low drag coefficient, can identify the driver identity of the Automatic Opening of the Volkswagen user ID, as well as the claimed to be the first with "ID. Cruise" mode can achieve full automatic driving of the van, as well as the first MPV model based on the Volkswagen MEB platform to create the gimmick blessing.
It can be seen that Volkswagen is full of vigor to attack the new energy market this time, in addition to the efforts of product innovation, Volkswagen Group also attaches great importance to the strategic planning of marketing. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen Group, made it clear on a March 15 conference call that "given the situation in Russia and Ukraine, the group will shift more production to North America and China and will give priority to China." This is not the first time that Diess has emphasized the importance of the Chinese market, he has repeatedly said that the Chinese market is the strongest market for new energy vehicles, but also a key step in Volkswagen's electrification plan, 40% of Volkswagen's electric vehicle sales will belong to the Chinese market, AndYS even bluntly said that "the future of Volkswagen Group will be determined by the Chinese market."
On the other hand, the public does reflect the importance attached to the Chinese market in action. It is reported that the first ID.Aero concept car will be launched at the Beijing Auto Show in April, and the first mass production models will be delivered to Chinese users in the second half of 2023. Not only that, Volkswagen's R&D strength has begun to transfer to Volkswagen Anhui R&D Center, Feng Sihan said that Volkswagen (Anhui) will become an important driving force for R&D innovation, at present, Volkswagen brand in China has about 6,000 R & D personnel.
Coupled with the fact that many Chinese people still retain the favor of the Volkswagen brand in their hearts, in this regard, volkswagen and Chinese consumers can also be regarded as "two-way rush", if they can further catch up with Tesla in technology, I believe that more people will turn to support the public without turning back.
Finally, Xiaobian would like to say that although volkswagen's electrification plan is still in a state of infancy, it has a clear goal and a clear direction, and I believe that the blueprint is only a matter of time before it turns into reality. Then keep accelerating, Europe's hardest volkswagen boy, accelerate!