Volkswagen Group to heavily invest in innovation and technology

JamesBa

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http://www.enginetechnologyinternational.com/news.php?NewsID=54272

Volkswagen Group will invest a total of US$113.8 billion in its automotive division over the coming five years, with more than two-thirds of the total investment amount to flow into increasingly efficient vehicles, drives and technologies, and environmentally friendly production.
This is the result of VW Group’s investment planning for 2014 to 2018 discussed by the supervisory board of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. “We will continue to invest strongly in our innovation and technology leadership, despite the uncertain economic environment,” said Dr Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. “I am convinced that this will give us extra power on our way to the top,”
Of the total investment, US$85.6 billion will be spent in property, plant and equipment, of which US$55.6 billion (roughly 65%) will be allocated towards modernizing and extending the product range for all VW Group’s brands.
The main focus will be on new vehicles and successor models in almost all vehicle classes, which will be based on the modular toolkit technology and related components. According to VW Group, the high level is due, among other things, to upfront investments relating to the changeover to Euro 6, which means completely revamping the Group’s range of vehicles and engines.In the area of powertrain production, new generations of engines will be launched offering additional enhancements to performance, fuel consumption and emission levels. In particular, VW Group said it would continue to press ahead with the development of hybrid and electric motors.
More than half of the investments in property, plant and equipment (almost 60%) will be made in Germany, while the average annual investments in this area will be around US$675.5 million less than in the planning approved in 2012 for the period from 2013 to 2015 due to the postponement of construction projects and capacity optimization. However, investments in products and technologies will remain unaffected by the decline.
The plans also include capitalized development costs of US$26.3 billion and other investments including for financial assets to the tune of US$1.7 billion. In addition, the company will make cross-product investments of US$30 billion over the next five years.
The Group’s joint ventures in China are not consolidated and are therefore not included in the above figures. As such, VW Group will invest a total of US$24.5 billion in new production facilities and products in the period from 2014 to 2018.
 

DickSilver

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Now, if VW would simply bring MORE of its models into the USA... like Polo, Touran, Caravelle (Eurovan to us) - then we could spend more money with VW.
 

TDI2000Zim

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VW hat meinen '14 Passat TDiSE getötet.
VW should spend its money in developing a failure-proof HPFP for the US market, or bring back a new edition of the ALH.
 

texcross

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I agree with bringing more models here. They have enough power in the market to bring more here.
 

BeetleGo

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5-door, 5-speed Golf GLS replaced BeetleGo.
There are tons of cars/trucks that consumers in NA would jump for. Come on VeeDubaya! We're way-ting!
 

DickSilver

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In South Africa, with a much smaller car market, VW sells Polo, Jetta, Passat, Caravelle, New Beetle, Golf, GTI, Touareg, Tiguan, Caddy, Scirocco, Golf & GTI Cabrios, CC, Touran, Amarok.... and some others! COME ON, VWOA, where is your courage??
 

jrivers804

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Cape Charles, VA USA
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Jetta, 1998, White
Yeah, but does the South African government make them certify every model and every variation of each model? We are a victim of a protectionist government in the US and because of its size and local Canada gets to suffer too.
 

ruking

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2003 VW Jetta, 5 M, Reflex Silver: 09 Jetta, 6 Sp DSG, Candy White: 12 VW Touareg, 8 Sp A/T, Flint Gray
I am not sure how this will directly and probably more likely indirectly rub off on the various markets, i.e., US markets. It is natural that most folks would be concerned with the markets THEY would be buying VW's in.

So for (just ONE) example, VW put a US plant in Chattanooga, TN to make US market ONLY "DECONTENTED" Passats ! I have read in passing they spent upwards of $7 B US.
 

30_Yr_Dsl_Veteran

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Yeah, but does the South African government make them certify every model and every variation of each model? We are a victim of a protectionist government in the US and because of its size and local Canada gets to suffer too.
Even Canada gets more choices than the U.S., especially diesels, even though they are much smaller market. The Smart CDI is just one example.
 

TDI smile

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2002 TDI (ALH) with 513,000 km. First Owner and very happy... No Problems, never left us stranded on the Highway. Average useage is about between under 4 ltr. and 5 ltr. Normal longdistance travel: 4.1/100
I would like to see a MODERN ALH car, that will go a Million miles without any problems. Oilchange every 100,000 km (60,000 miles) or so !!!!
 

drewkeen

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Nashville, TN, USA
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Perhaps they could figure out to accurately display how fast their vehicles are going with a bit of that money.
The speed sent to the ECU is correct, the speed shown on the dash is higher than actual. There has to be a logic behind this - possibly to prevent lawsuits from speeding tickets or similar.
 
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