VW to drastically reduce ICE fleet, focus on premium cars

VW will drop some 60% of its car fleet by the end of the decade and move its focus to fewer, more premium, and higher quality cars.

Speaking to the Financial Times, VW CFO Arno Antlitz announced the shift in company thinking, which is the opposite of former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn's strategy of winning the most cars sold race. Winterkorn resigned in 2015 amid the Dieselgate scandal.

VW will reduce its lineup of petrol and diesel cars, which amasses more than 100 models among VW and its group partners, by 60% in the next eight years.

Antlitz says the target now isn't growth, but quality and margins. Due to the ongoing chip shortage, brands like BMW and Mercedes were able to make record profits by charging more for the vehicles, despite selling fewer of them.

VW has managed to reduce its fixed cost base for production by €41bn in 2019, which allows it to rely less on the number of sold cars. VW's strategy to electrify its fleet is also going according to an organized plan - the maker is converting old factories one by one, changing production lines from combustion cars to EVs. According to Antlitz, all of this would soon lead to EVs being as profitable for VW as diesel and petrol cars

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