Volkswagen's generation of cars scheduled to start arriving around 2026 will likely be the brand's last to be fitted with internal combustion engines in most major markets.
That's according to Michael Jost, strategy chief for the VW brand, who said the automaker will slowly phase out internal combustion engines in an effort to reduce emissions.
“Our colleagues are working on the last platform for vehicles that aren’t CO2 neutral,” he said at an industry conference near the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. “We’re gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum.”
He stressed that internal combustion engines will still be around for a long time and that VW will continue to improve the technology. He also said both gas and diesel engines will likely be around even after 2050 but only in countries with insufficient charging infrastructure.
It's a similar story over at fellow Volkswagen Group brand Porsche whose CEO Oliver Blume in September said the 911 might be the brand's only model still with an internal combustion engine within a decade.
VW and the other VW Group brands are investing heavily in electric cars post the diesel scandal. VW already offers the e-Golf and e-Up but will really hit the accelerator on EVs next year when the first model based on the MEB modular platform for electric cars enters production. The first model will be a production version of 2016's ID hatch concept, rumored to be called an ID Neo.
Even as early as 2022, there will be as many as 27 cars based on the MEB platform across multiple VW Group brands, with most of them likely to be sold under the VW brand. On top of this are VW Group's premium electric car platforms like the C-BEV debuting in the Audi e-tron, the J1 debuting in the Porsche Taycan, and a new PPE platform currently being developed by Audi and Porsche and due to spawn its first model in 2021.
