Volkswagen Group extends innovation leadership in drive technologies

Newsheadline

– Pole position in Center of Automotive Management ranking
– Winterkorn: “Strong innovation is the key to sustainable mobility”

The twin up! concept car – city specialist with a plug-in hybridThe Volkswagen Group is the world’s leading automotive company in the field of innovative drive technologies. This is confirmed by a study comparing the development activities and innovation excellence of 20 international automotive groups recently published by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM). The Volkswagen Group expanded its innovation lead compared with the previous year on the strength of the high quality and number of innovations in drive technology.

“Strong innovation is the key to making individual mobility even more efficient and sustainable. One of the Volkswagen Group’s goals is the further systematic reduction in CO2 emissions from our European new vehicle fleet. The study by the Center of Automotive Management confirms we have an excellent basis for achieving this”, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, said.

The Volkswagen Group currently employs over 40,000 researchers and developers worldwide. In 2012 alone, the Group invested some €8.9 billion in developing new models as well as efficient technologies and drives. A large share of Volkswagen’s investment is dedicated to reducing the CO2 emissions of its new vehicle fleet. As a result, these efforts center on the further electrification of the vehicle portfolio, expanding the range of natural gas vehicles, and systematically increasing the efficiency of petrol and diesel engines.

New Golf TGI BlueMotion consumes just 3.4 kg natural gas per 100 km.The Volkswagen Group’s model range already includes 302 variants with CO2 emissions of less than 120 grams per kilometer; 50 models emit less than 100g CO2/km. Only recently a study by the European Commission confirmed that the Volkswagen Group is the world’s largest private sector RD investor.