Volkswagen: a third of investments go to electric and autonomous cars

Philipp von Hagen, a chief executive of Porsche SE, said at a conference in San Francisco that $50 billion will be invested in electric cars, autonomous driving technology and mobility services by 2024. According to him, that is one third of the investments.

Philipp von Hagen was asked during the conference whether his company is fully committed to electrification. His answer to that was “not really,” writes InsideEVs. He further explained this by explaining how much the car manufacturer invests in new drive technology. Until 2024, 50 billion will go to the development of, among other things, electric cars and autonomous technology; Von Hagen calls that a ‘major investment’, but adds that two-thirds of the investments still go into existing drive technology.

The automaker’s chief executive also said that about 50 different electric car models will be available by the end of 2030. That is out of a total of about three hundred models that the company produces. Porsche SE is the financial holding company that, in addition to the Volkswagen Group, also owns other brands such as Porsche and Audi.

Von Hagen also briefly discussed what he sees as a key risk when investing in electric cars: the consumer. “I’m a big believer in how electrification improves consumer vehicles, but will people buy electric vehicles?” It is not the first time that Volkswagen has shown some skepticism on this point. Two weeks ago, Hans Dieter Pötsch, the chairman of the board of Volkswagen, said in an interview that electric cars still have some drawbacks and that compact models could become much more expensive.