All Press Releases

Can computers or robots think? Could they have a consciousness? When specialists from the Volkswagen Group IT Data Lab talk about their work, they often hear questions like this. Here, at the Data Lab, an international team is working on the development of self-learning programs. In future, their development work could provide better support for their colleagues at the office and factory in many corporate processes. However, one thing is important for the Volkswagen specialists: if you are looking for machines that can think, you will find them in Hollywood rather than in the Data Lab.

The Volkswagen Group handed over 995,900 vehicles to customers in November, an increase of 11.1 percent compared with the previous year. "November was a successful month for our core brands with a significant rise in deliveries. Our brands recorded solid growth, not just in China, but in all regions worldwide. As a result, Group passenger car deliveries in November clearly outperformed the overall market", Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, commented. "Thanks to a successful second half of the year we are heading for a very good delivery result for the full year 2017", Kappler added.

The Volkswagen Group is currently engaging in intensive discussions with its suppliers to determine how the sustainability of the supply chain, especially for raw materials used in electric vehicles, can be improved. Specifically, the objective is to bring environmentally compatible vehicles onto the road that have been produced with respect for human rights and in accordance with environmental and social standards throughout the supply chain. This starts with raw material extraction and ends with the finished product. This is why the Volkswagen Group has made its corporate guideline more stringent and now requires greater transparency in raw material procurement from its suppliers.

MOIA, the mobility startup from the Volkswagen Group, introduces its comprehensive ride pooling concept just one year after its inception. The MOIA concept provides new mobility options that will significantly reduce traffic in major cities. The startup will present its ride pooling ecosystem with the mission "One Million Cars off the Road" at TechCrunch in Berlin, where the self-designed MOIA car, that is fully electric and optimized for ride pooling services, will make its debut.

The Volkswagen Group has today laid a key foundation for the future direction of the Group, this underpinning its strategic goals until 2025. In order to further enhance its powerful innovation and technology resources, the Group will invest billions of euros in electric mobility, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalization over the coming years. According to the outcome of the Group's planning round for 2018 to 2022, which the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft discussed at its meeting today, expenditure totalling more than EUR 34 billion are to be made in these future technologies by the end of 2022. Most of this will go into the electrification and hybridization of all Group models. This marks another significant step up in Volkswagen's commitment to this environment-friendly drive technology and a move to advance the Roadmap E electrification offensive at full speed. When the offensive was announced in September, the Group said it would electrify its entire model portfolio by 2030. 

The Volkswagen Group handed over 940,800 vehicles to customers in October, an increase of 8.2 percent compared with the previous year. "October showed that our customers all over the world trust our brands and products. Group deliveries grew significantly in all regions", Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, commented. The Group handed over 8.7 million vehicles to customers worldwide in the first ten months, an increase of 3.2 percent.

The Volkswagen Group and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg have reached a key milestone in their strategic mobility partnership. The Volkswagen Group will support Hamburg and ITS Germany in 2021 for hosting the World Congress for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) as a main partner and chair of the Host Organizing Committee. ERTICO (ITS Europe), organizer of the World Congress, announced the decision to stage the event in Germany with Hamburg as the hosting city at the ITS World Congress in Montréal. With this decision, the mobility partnership between Hamburg and Volkswagen will be strengthened. Decisions have been taken on specific projects to develop Hamburg into a model city for future urban mobility. For the implementation of these projects, the Volkswagen Group will be calling on the broad-based competence of its brands.

The Volkswagen Group is continuing its profitable growth and has further consolidated its financial base with a strong third quarter. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, operating profit before special items rose to EUR 13.2 billion from EUR 11.3 billion in the prior-year period. This corresponds to an increase of 17.4 percent. Sales revenue from January to September climbed 6.8 percent to EUR 170.9 billion, and operating profit before special items likewise rose from 7.0 to 7.7 percent. "The interim results for the period up to the end of September are very impressive and underpin the trust of customers worldwide in our brands and their products. For this we are thankful," said Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group. "These results were also achieved thanks to the hard work of all employees in our Group, who despite the difficult challenges they sometimes face simply do a good job."