Volkswagen will proceed to spend money on plug-in hybrid expertise over the approaching years as a bridge in direction of pure electrification.
The agency at present sells PHEV variations of the Golf, Passat and Tiguan, and boss Thomas Schäfer steered the expertise could possibly be rolled out and improved in mild of a “plateau” in demand for electric cars.
Speaking on the Financial Times Future of the Car convention in London, Schäfer echoed Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida and Hyundai president José Muñoz, who every steered their corporations would preserve a versatile powertrain providing as EV demand wavers.
Asked by Autocar if Volkswagen would proceed investing in hybrids, Schäfer stated: “Hybrids have been a factor of the previous. Last 12 months, in the event you requested the identical query, it will have been: ‘Forget hybrids, it is costly expertise, it isn’t price it.’ Within the final six months, abruptly everybody needs hybrids.
“When we stated we have been going to supply hybrid on the Tiguan, Golf, Passat and so forth, we have been frowned upon. People stated: ‘Why are you doing this? Go sooner [towards full electrification].’ Now I’m very glad we did. We have a suggestion and we’ll most likely must even prolong it.
“It’s a bridge technology. While battery-electric drive is plateauing out a bit at the moment, we still need this transitional technology.”
However, Schäfer added that he is “absolutely sure the future is electric” and hybrids will function a bridge in direction of the last word goal of all-out electrification.
To that finish, Volkswagen will “carry on with what we have”, Schäfer stated, suggesting that any future PHEVs will use a variation of the system that is at present out there within the Golf, Passat and Tiguan. “We will keep developing, but will we do a completely new drivetrain? I don’t think so.”
Schäfer added that Volkswagen would not essentially want a PHEV providing “in every single model and in every single region” however quite improvement work will give attention to lowering prices and boosting electrical vary.
As it stands, Volkswagen PHEVs provide among the many longest electrical ranges of any available on the market, with the newest variations of the Golf, Passat and Tiguan PHEVs in a position to journey round 62 miles with the petrol engine off.
Development of recent hybrid powertrains will not come on the expense of recent EV platform improvement, Schäfer stated, with the updated version of MEB – dubbed MEB Plus – and its SSP successor nonetheless on observe for manufacturing in 2025 and 2026 respectively.