VW to introduce 34 models in 2020 amid electric car push
Volkswagen will introduce 34 vehicle models in 2020 as the automaker pushes into the electric car market.
The models include eight electric or hybrid vehicles, VW announced Thursday. They will also include 12 SUVs — a category that has been key in the brand helping to recover from its emissions scandal.
Volkswagen chief operating officer Ralf Brandstatter said in a press release that the brand will invest 19 billion euros in “future technologies” through 2024, including 11 billion euros in its electric vehicles.
The new ID.3 – still under wraps (Credit: Volkswagen AG)
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“We are at the beginning of a new era,” Brandstatter said. “We mean business with e-mobility.”
The company didn’t specify all 34 models. VW plans to start selling its electric ID.3 next summer and the electric SUV ID.Next soon after. Brandstatter said it would be “the biggest electric offensive in the automotive industry.”
“Our ID. family makes emission-free mobility accessible to many people for the first time,” he said. “That is new Volkswagen.”
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Volkswagen premieres the ID. Space Vizzion (Credit: Volkswagen AG)
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Volkswagen said the move into electric is part of its goal to become carbon-neutral by 2050. The company was also required to invest $2 billion in zero-emissions vehicle charging infrastructure as part of its settlement with the EPA for cheating on vehicle emissions tests.
VW is currently expanding its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where it produces the Passat and Atlas. The company intends to produce an electric SUV called the ID Crozz there starting in 2022. The $800 million expansion will result in about 1,000 jobs being added to the plant, the company has said.