German auto giant was considering pulling plans for a new factory at its
Wolfsburg HQ as software issues threatened to delay new models, according to
local media reports Thursday.
اضافة اعلان
As recently as March,
Volkswagen announced plans to invest two billion euros
($2.1 billion) into the plant to house "Trinity" vehicles, the centre
point of its new all-electric fleet.
But problems with software development for the new model could push back the
delivery by "two to three years" from the 2026 target, according to
German financial daily Handelsblatt.
A delay could make a purpose-built factory in Wolfsburg redundant, giving
time for the current factory to be retooled, the paper reported.
"We are currently taking the opportunity to look at all projects and
investments and checking their viability," CEO Oliver Blume wrote in a
letter to Volkswagen employees after the media reports and seen by AFP.
"First, we will come to decisions together on software," followed
by the "product strategy" and the organisation of its production
facilities, Blume wrote in the letter with VW brand boss Thomas Schaefer.
It was however "too soon to make any concrete statements" about
the conclusions of the review, the pair said.
The reassessment of Volkswagen's electric strategy follows Blume's arrival
as CEO in September and marks a break with former boss Herbert Diess.
After his arrival in 2018, Diess pushed the legacy automaker into embracing
electric vehicles to turn the page on the "dieselgate"
emissions-cheating scandal.
But his hard-driving style and praise for US rival Tesla, which opened its
own purpose-built factory on the outskirts of Berlin earlier this year, ruffled
feathers internally.
The Austrian finally lost the confidence of Volkswagen's main shareholders
-- the Porsche-Piech family -- as problems mounted in the group's software
division.
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