CEO of the German auto giant Volkswagen sought to assuage concerns about electric vehicle sales and semiconductor supplies on Thursday, predicting shorter delivery times for electric vehicles next year.
“The outlook is very good, we have [a] Herbert Diess told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Thursday.
Supply chain constraints – including those related to semiconductors – have proven to be a major challenge for automakers in recent times.
“We’re trying to keep delivery times short,” says Diess, “but right now we have a one-year lead time, so we’re ramping up production … the five assembly plants are growing. goes into production.”
One ID. Buzz poses for a photo at a factory in Hanover, Germany, on June 16, 2022. Supply chain constraints – including those related to semiconductors – are a major challenge for manufacturers automobile production in recent times.
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Volkswagen shares traded up 5% in afternoon trading in London. Share prices listed in Frankfurt have fallen by more than 28% to date.
“We’re going to see an uptick in the second half of the year so we can really reduce delivery times for our electric vehicles,” he added. “There is high demand in Europe and also in the United States.”
Diess notes that semiconductors still present a bottleneck, but says this is likely to change soon. “We’ll see a reduction in the coming weeks,” he said.
Diess’ comments come the same day his company broke ground on a cell factory in Salzgitter, Germany, and founded a battery company called PowerCo. In a statement, it said PowerCo would be “responsible for the Volkswagen Group’s global battery operations.”
It added that, in the period to 2030, PowerCo will “invest more than 20 billion euros [$20.4 billion] together with partners in the development of the business sector, to generate annual revenues in excess of €20 billion and employ up to 20,000 people in Europe alone. “
By 2030, VW says it wants at least 70% of European sales to come from electric cars. In China and North America, their goal is at least 50% of sales from electric vehicles.
Earlier this year, VW announced plans to reboot the iconic Scout brand is an all-electric pickup and “solid” SUV, with the prototype expected to be revealed in 2023 and scheduled to begin production in 2026.
The company is also focusing on the development of vehicles such as the all-electric ID Buzz, was inspired by the T1 Microbus aka “hippie” van.
