Volkswagen Group postpones the release of multiple electric vehicles!
According to multiple media reports, due to software issues, Germany's Volkswagen Group has once again postponed the launch of several electric vehicles, including the ID.4 replacement model and Porsche's new electric SUV.
According to multiple media reports, due to software issues, Germany's Volkswagen Group has once again postponed the launch of several electric vehicles, including the ID.4 replacement model and Porsche's new electric SUV.
It is reported that some models of Volkswagen's new SSP platform will not be available until the end of 2029, which also means that the ID.4 replacement model and Porsche's new electric SUV model will not be available until 2029 at the earliest. As for Volkswagen's delay in releasing multiple electric vehicles, it is because its software department CARIAD failed to deliver the required software in time.
It is understood that Volkswagen ID.4 is built on Volkswagen MEB platform and released in September 2020. Two domestic models in the domestic market, FAW-Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ and SAIC Volkswagen ID.4 X, were released in November 2020. In September 2023, the 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ was officially launched, with a total of 3 models, priced between 239,900 and 293,900 yuan. Porsche's new electric SUV is code-named SUV K1, positioned as a luxury seven-seater model. Porsche product manager Albrecht Reimold said the car will "become the top model in our product line."
In fact, Volkswagen had postponed the launch of the SSP platform a few years ago, and the E3 2.0 software that had problems this time was based on the software platform designed by SSP for the next generation of electric vehicles, and was developed by Volkswagen's subsidiary CARIAD. The software department CARIAD (Car I Am Digital) is a business of the Volkswagen Group. It was initiated and established by Herbert Diess, the former CEO of the Volkswagen Group. Its predecessor was the Car.Software Organisation, the software division of Volkswagen established in 2020.
CARIAD is regarded by the Volkswagen Group as an important part of promoting electrification and intelligent transformation, so it is highly expected. However, since its establishment, CARIAD has not developed smoothly. Previously, due to the company's lagging R&D progress, the mass production plans of new cars launched by many brands including Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Bentley were postponed again and again, which also caused dissatisfaction among the management of the Volkswagen Group. Later, Diess, the then CEO of the Volkswagen Group, further increased his investment in the software level, and even made the division independent as CARIAD to avoid interference from internal forces of the Volkswagen Group, and established subsidiaries in many countries around the world.
As a business of Volkswagen Group, Volkswagen Group has repeatedly emphasized that CARIAD and automotive software development are an "indispensable" part of Volkswagen Group. However, due to the over-budget and failure to achieve development goals, the production of two important new models, Porsche e-Macan and Audi Q6 e-tron, has been delayed.
In addition, software development delays and cost overruns were also one of the reasons for Diess's resignation in September 2022. The department was then taken over by Oliver Blume, the new CEO of Volkswagen Group, and most of CARIAD's executives were also fired. In May 2023, due to the serious lag in the research and development progress of CARIAD, a software subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, and years of losses, Volkswagen has announced the dismissal of all executives of the department except personnel and almost reorganized the board of directors of CARIAD. At that time, Volkswagen Group announced that Peter Bosch, the former production director of Bentley, replaced Dirk Hilgenberg as CEO of Volkswagen Software Company CARIAD, and was also responsible for finance, procurement and IT business. In October of the same year, there were market reports that Volkswagen planned to lay off 2,000 employees at CARIAD, with the goal of completing the layoffs from 2024 to the end of 2025.
It is worth mentioning that in order to solve software problems, Volkswagen Group has also begun to seek external cooperation. Previously, Volkswagen announced a major cooperation with Xiaopeng Motors. The two parties will jointly develop two intelligent connected models for the Chinese mid-size car market. The first two models have been confirmed to be launched in 2026, and the first product is an SUV model. On May 20, Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, and SAIC Group announced the signing of a cooperation agreement. The two parties will jointly develop a new platform focusing on the Chinese market-the Advanced Digitized Platform. The new models built on this platform will be equipped with the industry's top software and hardware. On June 26, Volkswagen Group announced that it would invest US$5 billion (approximately RMB 36.3 billion) with Rivian Automotive, a new American car-making force, to establish a joint venture to jointly create an electrification architecture and software technology to accelerate the software development of the two companies.
The Volkswagen Group is currently facing the pain of electrification transformation. What needs to be faced is that as the earliest and most invested company in electrification transformation, although Volkswagen maintains a firm attitude towards pure electrification transformation, the postponement of the release of many electric vehicles will inevitably bring pressure to Volkswagen in the future. After all, the current automobile market is undergoing an unprecedented reshuffle, and the iteration of new and old models is very fast.
According to the plan, Volkswagen Group plans to launch 30 locally produced fuel and hybrid models in 2027; by 2030, Volkswagen China will provide at least 30 pure electric models in the Chinese market, and Volkswagen Group will become one of the top three automobile companies in China by then. However, with the continuous innovation of the auto market, the market has little time left for Volkswagen.
