VW calls for Europe to ‘lead with electric mobility’

Volkswagen (VW) group CEO Matthias Muller has said that the future of the automotive industry should not be left to Silicon Valley, calling on European companies and policy makers to take the lead in electric mobility.

Speaking at the company’s traditional New Year reception in Brussels, Muller said that Europe needs to take the lead in developing new technologies in future areas of the automotive sector, working with policy makers to create the necessary framework conditions to facilitate this.

As well as developments in alternative drive trains and electric vehicles, Muller drew focus to increased digitisation and autonomous driving as areas where Europe should excel.

He said: "The efforts of our industry alone won't be enough. We need to work together to make sure that Europe remains innovative and competitive as an industrial location in a rapidly changing world. A true breakthrough for electric mobility will only be achieved if politics, society and authorities work together more closely."

Muller reiterated VW’s new focus on sustainability, confirming that VW will introduce around 20 additional models with electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrains by 2020 across its different brands.

The VW CEO also emphasised that VW vehicles would have have their emissions values independently checked and certified by independent inspectors in the future, including random tests under real driving conditions.

Speaking about the issue of test results not reflected real life emissions, Muller added: "The industry-wide discrepancies between the official test results and actual consumption are no longer accepted and no longer acceptable. We need to break new ground here."

Read more