About Press Releases Careers ABOUT VOLKSWAGEN GROUP UK Volkswagen Group UK Volkswagen Group UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG – the world’s leading car, truck and mobility company comprising 12 brands from 7 European countries. In total the global Volkswagen Group sells vehicles in 153 countries with production facilities in 118 plants. In 2020, 360,500 cars and vans were registered from the Volkswagen Group UK brands achieving a market share of 22.1% of the passenger car market thus confirming the Volkswagen Group as the leading automotive company in the UK. Across the UK, over 600 retail partners offer outstanding sales and service while in Milton Keynes we have our core training centre for apprentices , service technicians and retailer staff. Future “The race is over, the electric car has won” Dr Herbert Diess, Volkswagen Group CEO, Volkswagen Group Power Day March 2021 With a global target to be balance-sheet CO2 neutral by the year 2050, the Volkswagen Group is leading the automotive transition to zero emission battery electric vehicles. Volkswagen was one of the first companies to sign-up to the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement following the COP21 Paris agreement which seeks to limit the impact of global warming. This holistic approach encompasses not only the production of award winning fully-electric cars and vans, but also the certified CO2 neutral assembly plants both for cars and battery packs. While we currently use carbon-offset certificates for parts not yet produced carbon free, we are working hard to remove CO2 and other emissions from the entire supply chain. And of course, for a customer buying a battery electric car we want them to be able to drive their car sustainably using green, renewable energy. So, depending which country you are in, the Volkswagen Group offers customers, either directly or with partners, green electricity energy tariffs. Further, we have partnerships with over 400 Tesco stores for vehicle charging. Tesco Partnership | Electric Charging | Volkswagen UK The provision ranges from free charging at Tesco to a fee for a high-power option, through to rapid charging being rolled out from the end of 2021 with bp and other European partners – again based on renewable electricity. Power Day: Volkswagen presents technology roadmap for batteries and charging up to 2030 (volkswagenag.com) As a founding partner of IONITY, the European fast charging network which plans to reach a target of 400 stations across the main European highways, including here in the UK, customers have the opportunity to charge the car to around 80% of capacity in as little as 30 minutes using their up to 350KW charging technology. IONITY - TECHNOLOGY - IONITY EU And with plans underway to open 6 gigafactories, each of 40 GW/h per annum across Europe, with the first sites already in build in Sweden and Germany, Volkswagen’s commitment to lead is clearly demonstrated. We also have an extensive Technology division managing the critical internal component division from the electrical engine to power electronics as well as axles and other vital parts of the supply chain. NEW AUTO: Strategy 2030 Announced in July 2021, the NEW AUTO plan sets out how the Volkswagen Group will transform into a software-driven mobility company with a strong focus on its powerful brands and global technology platforms. By 2030 the Group plans to reduce its carbon footprint per car by 30% over its lifecycle (vs. 2018) in line with the Paris Agreement. In the same timeframe, the share of battery-electric vehicles is expected to rise to 50%, while n 2040 nearly 100% of all new Group vehicles in major markets should be zero-emission. By 2050 at the latest, the Group intends to operate fully climate neutral. Strategy | Volkswagen Group (volkswagenag.com) With vehicles on our MEB fully-electric platform now receiving over-the-air updates, we have the aim to increase our share of the software required for our vehicles to 60 percent by 2025 through a global team of software engineers under the wholly owned subsidiary CARIAD. CARIAD is on a mission to build one unified software platform and tech stack for all the brands of the Volkswagen Group, working towards Level 4 automated driving capabilities. Automotive Software Company | CARIAD Through Argo AI, we are a core investor in one of leading autonomous vehicle software developers with an aim to have a vehicle on sale within this decade – first vehicles on the road are expected to be the launch of the ID.Buzz AD in 2022. While the transition from the combustion engine to electric drives has been challenging, the next change to a software enabled mobility company is under way. All told, the Volkswagen Group is investing €150bn over 5 years into investments and R&D with around 50 percent focussed on future technologies. In summary; we have the platforms, the components, and the software, combined with our global scale to succeed and lead the automotive industry with the transition to CO2 free, connected, autonomous mobility. But of course, core to our transition is our vehicles. With a global volume of around 10 million cars a year, the Volkswagen Group can maximise scale economies to drive down costs. With our 30,000 engineers we are investing half of our €150bn 5 year development and investment budget into future technologies to deliver on our promise. MEB is the name given to our volume platform for fully electric cars – the Volkswagen ID.3 was the pioneer in 2020 followed closely by the ID.4 which was awarded World Car of the Year in 2021. This is complemented by the ŠKODA Enyaq and CUPRA Born in the volume segments. Audi UK offers the Audi e-tron, e-tron Sportback, and Q4 e-tron as well as the e-tron GT in the premium sector. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles offers the ABT e-Transporter for van customers. For customers looking for a mix of combustion and electric drives, we also offer hybrid powertrains across almost all model derivatives while also offering outstanding efficiency for pure petrol or diesel driven cars and vans. But we are not stopping here, we are already working on the next generation of cars with the Trinity project from Volkswagen and the Artemis from AUDI. Focussed on the volume and premium sectors respectively, these cars are due around the middle of the decade and will set new standards in terms of range, charging speed and digitization – and will be able to drive highly automated according to Level 4. © 2020 Volkswagen Group UK, Inc. All Rights Reserved Joint Privacy Statement Volkswagen AG Volkswagen Financial Services UK Volkswagen Group UK LinkedIn Whistleblower system