Digitalisation is not just not being utilised in the vehicle for its enhancement but to be in synch with the customer needs.
With the ever-growing digital evolution and the consumers being enchanted with the digitalisation, something the consumer conveyed as feedback need they would like to see in their cars as well. With that strategy, Volkswagen made the software integration and the digital customer services its core competence to merge and increase the digitalisation inside as well as outside the vehicle.
The ACCELERATE strategy has been encompassed in Volkswagen for aligning the processes with the customer needs. Volkswagen is involved with digitalisation from its development phase of the cars to a different range of digital services as well as service partner visits.
With the global rise of change in the automotive industry, Volkswagen is planning to invest more than 18 billion euros in the brand by 2026 in e-mobility, hybridisation, and digitisation. In Europe, the company is targeting an increased share of all-electric cars to over 70 percent and in the USA and China, it is more than 50 percent.
Well, it can be seen that the home country will be the utmost important target for the company. With that scenario, the goals Volkswagen is aiming for are:-
- At least one new BEV model in each year.
- Fully electrifying the different range of models.
- To achieve net-zero climate-neutral by 2050.
- The rise in the use of data-based business models in new customer groups.
- Tapping into new sources of revenue generation solutions.
- The target of autonomous driving by 2030.
As the current trend is changing the way the automotive industry used to be it is also impacting the way we drive the vehicles. Volkswagen is in collaboration with Ford for electric and autonomous vehicles. The joint venture saw its support in Argo AI by Ford Motor Company (40%) and Volkswagen (40%).
Also, Skoda Auto Volkswagen is planning to enter the Indian market with small EV cars by the next 2025 onwards.
As per Thomas Schaefer, “ There are many regions of the world, who need more affordable entry EVs. At the moment, as a company, we can see this plan through. India is not going to lag. You can see the movement in the market, there is a strong signal. I like it.”
“We would need a new factory, mid-term India also needs to transform, by the second half of this decade.”
They are currently involved with a pilot study on Enyaq premium electric vehicles in India. It is also planning to launch three more EVs in India in the coming years.
The global CEO of Skoda and also taking the chairman responsibility of VW brand, “ India needs to play a bigger role. I always kept saying it since I joined the group. I want India to take the rightful place in this network of the group and it can do that.”
As we can see, Volkswagen is actively ramping up the new trends as well as entering the emerging market to support the electrification of vehicles on the road. The investments are done carefully as per the market needs.
The pilot studies are done exclusively to see what’s working for the Indian market. Hence a good amount of research work for the Volkswagen brand to make it a legendary mark in the Indian as well as in the South Asian market.
Volkswagen China is already spread out with 33 plants. In 2022, Volkswagen Group China announced five additional all-electric models.
As per Dr. Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China,
“Our NEV sales continue to increase despite the ongoing adversity. Since mid-March, we have been severely hit by COVID-19 outbreaks in Changchun and Shanghai, the homes of our joint ventures, as well as many of our key suppliers, which means that we are temporarily unable to meet high customer demand. We are confident in our ability to face these challenges and have a clear recovery plan to get us back on track. We hope that the situation will soon ease, and we will be able to make up for the delay in production in the coming months.”
In India, the pace has been slow but can be seen as effective. The companies are investing enough in a new range of models. Volkswagen India saw a sale of 4,028 cars in Feb 2022. It witnessed a growth of 84% YoY.