Volkswagen AG today announced that it will conduct an assessment on the feasibility of a potential initial public offering of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. The Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen concluded a framework agreement reflecting the respective discussions between Volkswagen AG and Porsche Automobil Holding SE and providing a basis for the next steps to prepare a potential listing. The Group’s Board of Management believes that a possible IPO of Porsche would be an important next step in the successfully launched transformation of Volkswagen into a vertically integrated mobility group and leading provider of software-based and emission-free mobility. The actual feasibility of an IPO depends on several different parameters as well as general market conditions. No final decisions have been made.

„The automotive industry is changing fundamentally. Volkswagen is determined to play a leading role in a world of zero-emission and autonomous mobility. We have set the right course with our NEW AUTO strategy and thanks to our substantial cash flows will invest with clear focus to enter new profit pools such as battery & charging, autonomous driving and our own mobility platform in the next few years. An IPO of Porsche AG would give us additional flexibility to further accelerate the transformation. Porsche AG would gain more entrepreneurial freedom and at the same time continue to benefit from group synergies,” said Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG.

Jörg Hofmann, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, said:

"Volkswagen is tackling the decisive years of transformation with clear focus and vigor. This also includes seizing the potential that a changed structure of the Group could offer. That is precisely what we have agreed on. The premise of all considerations is that Volkswagen's innovative power must be strengthened in order to expand its competitive edge in the vital issues of the future. All stakeholders will benefit from this – including the employees, of course."

VW would hold a majority stake in Porsche AG – Placement of up to 25% of preference shares

In the event of an initial public offering, the capital stock of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG is envisaged to be divided into 50% preference shares and 50% ordinary shares and up to 25% of the preference shares are to be placed on the market as part of a possible initial public offering. Porsche Automobil Holding SE would acquire 25% plus one share of the ordinary shares in Porsche AG from Volkswagen AG at the placement price of the preference shares plus a premium of 7.5%. It is not intended to list the ordinary shares on the stock market. Volkswagen AG would continue to hold a majority stake and include Porsche AG in its financial statements by way of full consolidation. The industrial cooperation between Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG would continue after an IPO.

Employees and shareholders would benefit from a possible listing

Volkswagen AG would be able to use the proceeds from a potential IPO of Porsche AG to accelerate the industrial and technological transformation of the Volkswagen Group. This includes investments in transforming its global production capacities to electric vehicles and funding of additional growth alongside its value drivers. In addition, in the event of a successful IPO, Volkswagen AG would propose to shareholders to distribute a special dividend amounting to 49% of the total gross proceeds from the placement of the preferred shares and the sale of the ordinary shares.

QIA has been a valuable and trusted partner as well as a major shareholder of Volkswagen AG for many years. Volkswagen AG thus welcomes QIA’s intention to also become a strategic investor in Porsche AG’s preferred shares as a natural expansion of the existing relationship.

Stephan Weil, Minister President of the State of Lower Saxony, which is also a major shareholder in Volkswagen, said: "The planned IPO of Porsche offers considerable opportunities for the further development of the VW Group as a whole and, above all, its Lower Saxony sites. That is why the state agrees with the presented framework agreement and will accompany the further process constructively."

Employees of Volkswagen AG and of VW Sachsen GmbH would also benefit from a potential IPO. According to the current state of discussions, around 130,000 employees would receive a one-time payment of 2,000 Euros each through an employee participation.

"The employee representatives on the Supervisory Board support the feasibility assessment. From our point of view, reorganizations can take place if the prospects for the employees are right, and the future is being shaped sustainably in the interests of the workforce. One thing is always clear to us: The competitiveness of our sites must be a priority in order to safeguard jobs in the Group. With the agreed guard rails, this would also be the case this time. It goes without saying that we will continue to closely monitor the proceedings and help shape the process." said Daniela Cavallo, Chairwoman of the General and Group Works Council.

The State of Lower Saxony has been benefiting from the Group’s investments into the transformation and will continue to do so, including at Volkswagen’s main site in Wolfsburg and its other sites. As part of the Group’s planning round 70, Volkswagen has decided to invest around 21 billion Euros in the vehicle and component plants in Lower Saxony over the next five years. This includes the Volkswagen brand’s project Trinity, a state-of-the-art electric car, which will provide autonomous driving to the masses, as well as the most modern development center in Germany.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Based on preliminary figures, Volkswagen Passenger Cars has exceeded the ambitious European CO2 fleet targets for 2021 and produced around 5.5 million grams fewer CO2 than required by law. The passenger car fleet of new vehicles in the European Union achieved average CO2 emissions of 113 g/km – the legal CO2 target for the brand was 119 g/km. In 2021, the realistic WLTP standard replaced the old NEDC. Volkswagen had already over-fulfilled the targets for 2020.

“By significantly exceeding our CO2 targets once again, we have demonstrated our fast and systematic approach to sustainability and the transformation towards e-mobility through our ACCELERATE strategy. We are thus making an important contribution to meeting the Paris climate goals. This year, we adding to the momentum with our new models,” said Volkswagen CEO Ralf Brandstätter.

Last year, Volkswagen delivered more electric vehicles worldwide than ever before, handing over more than 369,000 electric cars (+73 percent versus 2020), including approximately 106,000 PHEVs (+33 percent) and 263,000 all-electric vehicles (+97 percent) to customers. The Group thus doubled its BEV deliveries year-on-year.

Volkswagen will again increase its investments in the future over the next five years – to around €18 billion. Most of this, almost €14 billion, will be spent on e-mobility – for example for the development of further new models and the transformation of our plants towards e-mobility. In addition, there will be more than €1 billion for hybridization. The Emden and Chattanooga (USA) plants will start production of the ID.4 this year. In the current fiscal year, Volkswagen will also expand its offerings based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB): This way, the all-electric models ID.5, ID.5 GTX and ID.BUZZ will gradually be launched in international markets.

At the heart of Volkswagen’s “Way to Zero” decarbonization program is the brand’s ACCELERATE strategy aimed at stepping up the pace of the electric offensive. Volkswagen intends to be net carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. The interim target is to cut CO2 emissions per vehicle by 40 percent in Europe by 2030 (baseline: 2018). The production, including supply chains, and operation of electric cars are to be made net carbon neutral.

The goal is the full electrification of the new vehicle fleet. By 2030, at least 70 percent of all Volkswagen’s unit sales in Europe will be all-electric vehicles – i.e. substantially more than one million vehicles. In North America and China, the share of electric vehicles in unit sales is expected to reach at least 50 percent.

The final confirmation by the EU Commission regarding the CO2 figures is to follow at a later date.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

The success story of the e-up! can resume. The all-electric small car can now be ordered once again. For many customers, Volkswagen's successful model served as their entry into e-mobility – not least of all because the city specialist offers extensive standard equipment, space for four people and an impressive range. To date, over 80,000 of this model of vehicle have been sold around the world, and in Germany it was in second place in 2021 for all-electric vehicles with the most new registrations.

The vehicle had turned into an absolute bestseller in recent years, causing delivery times to rise to up to 16 months. For this reason, Volkswagen temporarily stopped taking new orders for the mini vehicle at the end of 2020. Production continued throughout 2021 to process the order backlog. With 30,800 deliveries, this took the e-up! to second place among Germany’s most popular electric vehicles across brands last year. Now that the order backlog has been processed successfully, the model from the segment below the ID.3 is available to order again in Germany and will gradually be rolled out in other European markets.

Available to order now, the e-up! Style Plus features electric drive power of 61 kW/83 PS. The maximum WLTP range is up to 258 kilometers. In addition to its dynamic driving performance – thanks to features such as its high torque of 210 Nm – the e-up! boasts low consumption of 12.7 kWh (combined) per 100 kilometers. Among other standard features, the model comes with a CCS charging plug for rapid charging, the Lane Assist lane departure warning system, Climatronic air conditioning, a leather-trimmed multifunction steering wheel and 15-inch “Blade” alloy wheels. The charging time of the 32.2 kWh battery system (net value) is short: with 40 kW DC charging power, 60 minutes are enough to recharge the batteries to 80 percent. With alternating current, an 80 percent charge with 7.2 kW of power takes a little over four hours. The list price for the current version is 26,895 euros including VAT (in Germany), before deduction of the environmental and innovation premium of 9,570 euros (in Germany).

The e-up!’s market success contributes to Volkswagen’s electric offensive. To date, the company has sold more than half a million all-electric vehicles worldwide – including the 263,000 new BEVs registered in 2021 alone. As part of the ACCELERATE strategy, the proportion of BEVs is to rise to at least 70 percent of all Volkswagen brand deliveries in Europe by 2030. That is substantially more than one million vehicles. The company also intends to be net carbon-neutral by 2050.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

The Volkswagen Group and the Bosch Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the establishment of a European battery equipment solution provider. The two companies plan to supply integrated battery production systems as well as on-site ramp-up and maintenance support for battery cell and system manufacturers. The companies are aiming for cost and technology leadership in the industrialization of battery technology and the volume production of sustainable, cutting-edge batteries. Through the “local for local” production approach, this will also be a step towards the objective of carbon-neutral mobility. In Europe alone, the Volkswagen Group plans to build six cell factories by 2030.

The Volkswagen Group and the Robert Bosch Group are setting up a project unit to explore the possibilities of industrial-scale solutions for battery manufacturing in Europe . The corresponding memorandum of understanding was signed yesterday by Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group in charge of Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, and Rolf Najork, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch Group and Chairman of the Executive Board of Bosch Rexroth.

The companies aim to supply the entire range of processes and components needed for the large-scale manufacture of battery cells and systems. The industry-wide demand is enormous: In Europe alone, various companies plan to build cell factories with a total yearly capacity of around 700 gigawatt-hours by 2030.

For both partners, this alliance is a further step towards playing leading roles in the world of e-mobility. The partnership will draw on complementary areas of expertise: While Volkswagen is an accomplished at-scale automaker and is on its way to becoming a major battery cell manufacturer, Bosch has excellent know-how in factory automation and systems integration.

Thomas Schmall commented: “Europe has the unique chance to become a global battery powerhouse in the years to come. There is a strong and growing demand for all aspects of battery production, including the equipment of new gigafactories. Volkswagen and Bosch will explore opportunities to develop and shape this novel, multibillion-euro industry in Europe. Our decision to actively engage in the vertical integration of the battery-making value chain will tap considerable new profit pools. Setting out to establish a fully localized European supply chain for e-mobility made in Europe certainly marks a rare opportunity in business history.”

Rolf Najork stated: “Together with Volkswagen, we seek a path to industrialize production processes for battery cells with standardized equipment. We have the best prerequisites for this: Bosch is not only the world's biggest automotive supplier, but also one of the leading suppliers of factory equipment. We understand how battery technology works, and know how to manufacture it. With more than 135 years of automotive experience and our proven industrialization expertise, we want to serve the growing demand for batteries. European industry has the potential to become a technology driver for the ecological transformation of the economy.”

Volkswagen and Bosch have formed the project unit with the target of preparing the establishment of the new company by the end of 2022.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com