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The negotiating commissions of Volkswagen AG and IG Metall Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt today brought their negotiations for Volkswagen AG’s approximately 125,000 employees covered by the company collective agreement to a successful conclusion. Volkswagen AG’s chief negotiator and Chief Human Resources Officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand Arne Meiswinkel commented: “We reached agreement before the duty to refrain from industrial action expired, which will create long-term planning certainty and stability for the company and the workforce. With our new Volkswagen Master’s scholarship program we will also promote loyalty to our company among young talent from an early stage and ensure that we have continued access to key future skills for the transformation.”

The negotiating commissions of Volkswagen AG and IG Metall Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt today continued the collective bargaining process in Wolfsburg. Opening the second round of negotiations, Volkswagen AG’s chief negotiator and Chief Human Resources Officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand Arne Meiswinkel presented the situation of the company amid a challenging global backdrop. He said that the stated goal was to negotiate a collective agreement with IG Metall for the company and its employees that will ensure long-term stability. Volkswagen will make an offer in the next round of negotiations. Meiswinkel said this would depend on achieving a common understanding of the company’s overall situation and other important topics such as the future use of partial retirement and the forward-looking allocation of the 1,400 annual training places specified in the collective bargaining agreement.

The Volkswagen Group is driving forward its transformation into a mobility provider and is entering into a partnership with car sharing company MILES Mobility. In this regard, MILES Mobility has acquired UMI Urban Mobility International GmbH from Volkswagen Passenger Cars and with it the WeShare car sharing business and will integrate it into its existing portfolio. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Also in the context of the new partnership, MILES has ordered more than 10,000 all-electric vehicles from the Audi, Seat/Cupra and Volkswagen Passenger Cars brands, which are scheduled for delivery from 2023. In this way, Volkswagen aims to participate even better in the rapidly growing market for new mobility services, offering greater choice to its customers at the same time.

With the inclusion of the EU taxonomy into its new Green Finance Framework (GFF) the Volkswagen Group makes investments in Green Debt Instruments issued by the company more attractive, transparent and reliable for sustainability investors. The GFF links the Group’s decarbonization goals with its financing strategy. Only capital expenditures (capitalized development costs and additions to property plant and equipment) for battery electric vehicles (BEV) that are aligned with the EU taxonomy are taken into account under the new GFF. The investments are audited in connection with the annual report by the Groups independent auditor on a reasonable assurance basis. Investors can thus obtain a high level of transparency and verification for the use of proceeds.

Volkswagen Group posted solid financial results in the third quarter in a difficult global environment. Total vehicle deliveries to customers were up in Q3, with overall operating result increasing from EUR 2.6bn in a supply-constricted Q3 2021 to EUR 4.3bn. The Group’s financial performance in Q3 demonstrates how measures to strengthen supply chains have successfully helped to mitigate a challenging global landscape.

Volkswagen is focusing its development activities for autonomous and highly automated driving. In the area of autonomous driving as a service (MaaS/TaaS), the Group is consolidating its development partnerships. Volkswagen will no longer invest in Argo AI. In individual mobility, Cariad is continuing to drive forward the development of highly automated and autonomous driving together with Bosch and, in the future, in China with Horizon Robotics.

Volkswagen Group and Canadian quantum technology company Xanadu have established a multiyear research program to improve the performance of quantum algorithms for simulating battery materials. The goal is to reduce computational costs and accelerate Volkswagen’s adoption of quantum computers to develop battery materials that are safer, lighter, and more cost-effective.

The Volkswagen subsidiary Elli is offering electric vehicle customers of the Group brands more comprehensive service. The wall boxes can now be purchased from the German Audi, SEAT, Cupra, ŠKODA Auto, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge dealerships. Through the new sales channel, Elli is continuing its strategy to offer a customer-friendly ecosystem for electric mobility. The new partner for in-store sales of the wall boxes is Volkswagen Original Teile Logistik GmbH & Co. KG (OTLG).

The Volkswagen Group continued to drive forward its successful global electric offensive. The deliveries of all-electric vehicles were up 25 percent in the first nine months year-on-year. Despite ongoing supply constraints, 366,400 BEVs have been handed over to customers until the end of September, up from 293,000 in the prior-year period. The BEV share of total deliveries climbed to 6.0 percent in that timeframe, up from 4.2 percent in the same period of 2021. China remains the biggest driver with 112,700 BEVs – more than twice as many as at the end of Q3 2021.

The Volkswagen Group is strengthening its development competence “in China, for China” to accelerate the pace of innovation, promote technological localization and further strengthen its customer focus in this important market. A new partnership between its software company CARIAD and Horizon Robotics, one of the leading providers of computing solutions for smart vehicles in China, will accelerate the regional development of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving (AD) systems for the Chinese market. As part of the cooperation, CARIAD and Horizon Robotics plan to also establish a joint venture, with CARIAD being majority shareholder. Volkswagen Group willoverall invest approximately EUR 2.4 billion in the cooperation with Horizon Robotics. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023. Together CARIAD and Horizon Robotics plan to develop cutting-edge, highly optimized full stack ADAS/AD solutions for China to drive forward the integration of numerous functions on one chip, increasing the stability of the system, saving costs, and reducing energy consumption. The fully integrated software/hardware technology offers differentiation and provides scalable as well as cost efficient ADAS/AD solutions for the Group’s BEV (Battery Electric Vehicles) models in China. The closing of the transaction is subject to the final signing of transaction documents between the parties involved and customary government approval, as well as, in particular, the approval of merger control and foreign investment authorities.