FY & Q4 2018 Earnings

• VW Group sold 10.83 million vehicles in 2018, a 0.9% increase on a year earlier. (VW)
• Reported preliminary 2018 revenue of €236 billion and an operating profit of €13.9 billion. Analysts were troubled that the firm’s cash balance had deteriorated. Despite VW’s continuing promises to overhaul efficiency, capex and R&D were both up in real terms, and as a percentage of revenue. (VW)

December

• Reported a set of newly-discovered “abnormalities” with the upgraded emissions control software of 1.2 litre diesel engined cars to the German regulator. VW has stopped updating vehicles and hopes to find a resolution during January. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche says the Taycan is sold out in the US for a year if all reservations turn into firm orders and that the biggest cohort of buyers are defecting from Tesla. (CNET)
• According to US sales representatives, the all-electric Porsche Taycan (formerly Mission E) will have three models, the base version will retail in “low $90,000” range, the 4S will have a “high $90,000” price tag whilst the range-topping Turbo will be “over $130,000”. (Green Car Reports)
• According to Audi’s new chief, getting a CEO spot should be on more new year’s resolution lists. He claims the new job has helped him shed 10 kilos. (SZ)
• Showed off a prototype charging station that uses the same batteries as MEB platform vehicles (either new, or more likely, used) to provide high capacity and fast charging, regardless of local infrastructure. The 360 kWh unit can provide charging rates of 100 kW. (VW)
• VW’s initial analysis of EU CO₂ target reductions of 30% by 2030 had reportedly settled on a figure of 1.2 million pure electric vehicles per year being needed across the group. The final figure of a 37.5% reduction has supposedly increased this by a further 600,000 units -- or seven additional vehicle lines. CEO Diess said that the company would still be able to achieve the tougher 2030 target but would have to revisit its footprint plan. (Handelsblatt)
• Rumoured to be planning a one third reduction in manning levels at plants in Emden and Hanover over the next ten years as electric vehicle sales increase. VW is said to hope that natural attrition, early retirement and redeployment to other factories will be enough to meet the target. (FAZ)
• The head of VW’s in-house self-driving unit, AID, has a “high opinion” of Waymo but thinks GM’s Cruise is “hyping a bit”. He says that 90% perception accuracy is now standard but things get tough at 95%. (The Verge)
• Said to be planning to write off the investment in ride hailing provider Gett (VW’s stake is apparently only valued at €16 million versus the $300 million+ VW has given the business -- we shall see in the 2018 FY accounts). (Reuters)
• Acquiring a majority 75.1% share in telematics firm WirelessCar. VW plans to use the company’s technology for vehicle to cloud data exchange in its forthcoming services. (VW)
• Implemented a new executive pay scheme. There will be no personal performance bonus and incentives will be geared towards success of the entire group, rather than brands. There is also a clawback provision. (VW)
• Porsche is recalling 74,585 Panameras to fix problems with the power steering. (Porsche)
• Audi will show a concept next-generation in car entertainment at CES 2019. (Audi)
• Moia’s CEO said the approval processes required to launch the ride hailing service in Hamburg and Hanover had been tedious and that without change, they were a risk to Germany’s competitive position. (FAZ)
• Audi appointed the interim CEO on a permanent basis. (Audi)
• VW’s employees in Germany are in a 70.8% good mood, up from 70.6% last year. They are concerned about the firm’s public perception but think it is a fantastic employer. (VW)
• Has reportedly tasked the Seat brand with developing a small BEV to be sold to car sharing fleets. (Europa Press)
• Will brand all driver assistance and automated driving technologies for VW vehicles as IQ.Drive. (VW)
• Recalling about 6,000 vehicles because they have been built with non-standard parts, such as updated components that had not been fully approved at the time of sale. (Handelsblatt)
• Increased its forecast for the “first wave” of MEB-platform sales from 10 million units to 15 million units. VW remains unclear about the timescale. (VW)
• Having previously talked about 23 battery electric models for the VW brand by 2025, the company now talks of “around 20”. Since automotive OEMs tend to round up for PR purposes (e.g. 23 = “more than 20” or “almost 25”), this indicates that VW may have dropped some vehicles from the plan. (VW)
• Targeting further profitability actions at the VW brand, with an expectation of at least 6% operating margin by 2022. VW said that the 2020 cost saving target had almost been achieved already and further savings are therefore being sought from the business. Amongst the improvements, VW are eliminating all powertrain combinations in the bottom quartile for customer demand. (VW)
• Audi will spend €14 billion out of a planned €40 billion from 2019 to 2023 on electric vehicles, digitalization and autonomous driving. (VW)
• VW might build some vehicles in US Ford plants rather than installing capacity for itself. (Reuters)
• Executives said that working back from a final sale date for combustion engine only vehicles in 2040, VW was forecasting for there to be no new diesel and gasoline vehicle launches after the early 2030s, meaning that the final development cycle would begin in 2026. (Handelsblatt) Another executive said afterwards that the comments were about Europe and internal combustion engine development would continue for other markets. (Autocar)
• Working towards CO₂ neutral production of the all-electric ID vehicle range. Initially, VW will accomplish this through a combination of renewable methods and purchase of carbon offsets (e.g. tree planting). (Handelsblatt)
• Production of the Audi A3 and Q2 began at VW’s joint venture plant in Algeria. (VW)

November

• Audi released pictures of the electric drone concept is has been developing with Airbus. The drone carries a passenger pod which can be installed onto a car base so that passengers can take a trip that involves flying and driving without having to get out of the vehicle. At present the companies are testing a 1:4 scale model. (Audi)
• VW’s head of HR said the brand expected electric cars to require 20% to 25% less productive labour and that there would not be a second “future pact” German labour agreement beyond 2025. (Handelsblatt)
• Executives said VW was “100% deep in the process” of choosing a site in North America to build all-electric vehicles, although they might just end up selecting their existing Tennessee plant. (Reuters)
• Setting up a charging scheme in the UK in partnership with supermarket group Tesco. The plan it to provide around 2,500 chargers in 600 locations. There will be a free 7 kW service and a pricier 50 kW offering. (BBC)
• Said that via a reorganisation of media agencies it will improve “marketing efficiency” by 30% without increasing the budget and increase the share of spending on digital media to 50% of the total by 2020, up from 25% in 2015. (VW)
• VW’s head of compliance said 2019 would be the most difficult for the carmaker’s legal team to manage because of the number of ongoing court cases and complexity. (FT)
• Signed an agreement with JAC to form a joint venture that will produce and market SEAT cars in China. (VW)
• Unveiled the Audi e-tron GT concept, previewing an A5-type vehicle that will be presented in 2020. (VW)
• Reportedly settled a lawsuit brought by Broadcom alleging VW had infringed its IP. (Reuters)
• CEO Diess does not believe that individual ownership is on its way out, saying “people will continue to be fascinated by driving”. (VW)
• Porsche’s electric offerings will have material cost increases of between €6,000 to €10,000 compared to equivalent combustion engine cars, according to offer the record sources. In response, Porsche intends to enact a profit improvement plan to yield €750 million annually over the next eight years. (Bloomberg)
• Complexity was such that, in 2017, although VW sold 84,000 Golfs in Germany, the largest group of identical vehicles numbered only 400. (VW)
• Acquired a 49% stake in software developer Diconium. (VW)
• Restructured the management of its operations in India to put Škoda executives in charge. (VW)
• Trademarks filed by VW have led to suggestions that the ID range will be branded as ID 1, ID 2 etc rather than being given names as the concept vehicles -- which VW executives still refer to -- have. (Green Car Reports)
• Confirmed the Audi e-tron SUV will be localised in China from 2020 onwards. (VW)
• Recalling around 75,000 cars to fix problems with seatbelts. (BBC)
• Announced a series of decisions taken under the latest planning round. VW committed to reduction in capital expenditure and R&D as a percent of revenues to 6% from 2020 onwards. CEO Diess is seeking a 30% improvement in productivity by 2025 saying that a chunk of this will come by increasing the number of multi-brand plants. (VW)
• The Emden plant will become dedicated to electric vehicles and Hanover will convert “gradually”. Comments that the “main speciality” of Hanover will be the ID Buzz family of vehicles seem to confirm that Transport production is likely to move to a Ford plant. (VW)
• The partnership with Ford “offers potential” for a profitable Amarok (pick-up truck) and “robust” SUVs. Whilst there are further joint projects that VW foresees, the company stressed that marketing and pricing (i.e. the sorts of things that would require a level of M&A) were out of the question. (VW)
• Expects pure electric vehicles to be profitable, even in the first generation, and that VW Group’s economies of scale would make it the most profitable electric car manufacturer. (Reuters)
• CEO Diess believes that Waymo are one to two years ahead in autonomous driving technology but that it is possible for VW to catch up. (VW)
• Looking to build a new plant in Eastern Europe. (VW)
• Gave employment guarantees lasting to 2028 to permanent workers at the three plants that will become dedicated electric vehicle factories but said temporary workers would have to move to other group locations if they wanted a permanent role. (VW)
• Changed the management structure of the China business so that it reports straight into CEO Diess. (VW)
• Said it could produce up to 50 million vehicles from the MEB platform over its lifetime, a statement that implies an upper end scenario of mass transition to pure electric vehicles since in September VW talked about 10 million vehicles from the “first wave”. (Reuters)
• Announced a fourth battery supplier -- SK Innovation -- for MEB platform products. VW says the firm will supply all its needs for the US market and some of the European volume, which it will share with LG Chem and Samsung. VW says the four suppliers will collectively share around 150 GWh of capacity by 2025. (VW)
• Unveiled the Tarok, a near-production car based pick-up destined for South American markets. (VW)
• Having previously referred numerous times to a price target for its ID car that was comparable to an “equivalent” diesel, the company is reportedly planning an entry level BEV that will retail at under €20,000. (CNBC)
• Reportedly planning to cease production of Passat in Germany by 2022 and manufacture electric cars at the Emden plant instead (having only recently moved Passat there). (Bloomberg)
• Porsche Consulting published a “success formula” for cultural transformation. Since two of the steps are “decision making” and “risk taking”, could this be a bid for VW group’s much heralded transformation? (Porsche Consulting)
• SEAT is going to start selling an electric scooter (a rebadged Segway model) that will retail at €599. (SEAT)

October

• Reportedly working on a long-term plan that will transfer much of Audi’s research budget to collaborations and reduce the brand’s role in leading the development of new technologies such as autonomy. (Reuters)
• Will operate a self-driving ride hailing service in Israel in partnership with Intel and Champion Motors. The project will start pilot operations in 2019 and aims to run a commercial service by 2022. (Intel)
• VW’s CFO said the firm is open to sharing its MEB electric vehicle platform but remains focused on internal applications. He also said the firm wants access to a self-driving system and is “speaking with relevant players”, despite its tie-up with Aurora. (Reuters)
• Being sued by chipmaker Broadcom for $1 billion over alleged patent infringement in VW’s navigation and entertainment systems. The suit asks a judge to suspend production of VW group vehicles. (Handelsblatt)
• Bentley’s CEO said the brand has already made changes to its logistics operations ahead of Brexit and was considering longer than usual shutdowns at Christmas and Easter. He has recently changed the long-term plan to increase the amount of electrification under development. (Reuters)
• CEO Diess said there was too much emotion in the debate about retrofitting German diesel-powered vehicles with additional hardware to improve emissions. (Handelsblatt)
• VW’s Heycar used car sales platform is apparently growing faster than the targets it was set and has sold over 320,000 vehicles. (Handelsblatt)
• VW is reportedly planning to produce batteries with SK Innovation and might collaborate with Waymo on ride hailing. The firm is said to be contemplating purchasing a 10% stake in Waymo for €12 billion. (Reuters)
• VW is reducing its sales forecast for China according to the head of its local business unit. (Nikkei)
• Unveiled the T-Cross, saying SUVs will make up 50% of VW brand sales by 2025. (VW)
• Undertook a restructuring of the truck division so that the energy and powertrain portfolio stays with Volkswagen group and the truck and bus unit (Traton) can approach an IPO as a “pure” business unit. (VW)
• Audi said that more than 95% of electric vehicle batteries could be recycled, in a laboratory. It will now develop a higher volume process and a way to re-use the recovered raw materials. (VW)
• Agreed with its Algerian JV partner to produce Amarok pick-up trucks in the country. (VW)
• VW and Ford are reportedly exploring in-depth sharing of autonomous driving technology. Ford already has a majority share in partner Argo AI whilst VW has partnered with Aurora but was apparently rebuffed in an informal takeover approach. Ford executives stressed that nothing was off the table. (Bloomberg)
• Porsche suggested that it could charge US dealers between $300,000 to $400,000 each to partially offset some of the cost of superchargers the company proposes to install on their premises. (Automotive News)
• Lamborghini’s boss said the firm is contemplating building a limited series super car following the example of the McLaren Senna and Aston Martin Valkyrie. (Autocar)
• Unveiled an “extensive update” for the Audi R8. (Audi)
• Porsche’s CFO said that if VW were to spin off its luxury brands, they could reach a collective valuation of between €60 billion and €70 billion but the company quickly rowed back on the comments. (CNBC)
• CEO Diess told suppliers there would be a €50 billion to €60 billion market for battery cells in Europe soon, and the opportunity could even rise to €100 billion. He also believes that German carmakers have a 50:50 chance of retaining their competitive advance in 10 years. Diess once again took the opportunity to complain about CO₂ regulations in Europe and said that with the current mix of electricity generation in Germany (lots of coal), electric vehicles were not that clean. (VW)
• Announced a new factory in Anting, China in partnership with SAIC that will be purpose built to produce electric cars on the MEB platform. The plant will produce up to 300,000 units annually. (VW)
• Audi will pay a €800 million fine to German prosecutors for its part in the diesel scandal. (Audi)
• Launched a big marketing program for diesel owners in Germany, with discounts of between €4,000 to €8,000 depending on the combination of new and traded in vehicle. VW is also offering incremental discounts to buyers in 14 areas with the worst emissions. (VW)
• The Audi etron battery electric SUV is suffering launch delays of several weeks caused by software issues. (Reuters)
• Porsche wants to price the Taycan (Mission E as was) between the Cayenne and Panamera, indicating a starting price around €80,000. There could be performance versions priced as high as €200,000, with a Taycan Turbo S nameplate mooted -- confusing since there wouldn’t be a turbo in sight. (Automotive News)
• To nobody’s surprise, Porsche confirmed the Mission E Cross Turismo had been approved for series production. The 300 jobs the firm says will be created indicate and expected annual volume of around 5,000 units. (Porsche)
• Executives said Porsche would have an all-electric “big SUV” by 2022, thought to be a new vehicle in the line-up beyond the Taycan Cross Turismo since “the Taycan derivatives have already been showcased”. (Autocar)
• Sharing the development costs for the forthcoming PPE platform between Porsche and Audi will reportedly save both brands 30% versus going it alone. (Porsche)
• Started production of the SEAT Tarraco at the Wolfsburg plant. (VW)
• Audi says it will implement a new type of panel quality checking system in its press shops. It will replace a camera system that uses image recognition specific to the type of panel being made with one that can recognise defects in all kinds of parts. Although Audi had to spend lots of time teaching the new system, the company says it will be worth it when it can introduce new parts with less effort. (Audi)
• Škoda’s next c-car will be called the Scala, with the Rapid nameplate being retired. (Autocar)
• CEO Diess said a 40% reduction in CO2 levels by 2030 would mean losing “around a quarter of the jobs in our factories” -- 100,000 by his estimate. He wants a slower transition to full electric vehicles to avoid a “painful revolution”. (VW)
• VW Group sales in Q3 were 2,611,300 units, a drop of (1.5)% on the prior year. (VW)
• Having a 20-day shutdown at its Taubaté, Brazil plant because of weak Argentinian sales. (Reuters)
• Audi’s interim CEO is lobbying to have the job on a permanent basis. (Handelsblatt)
• Launched production of the Audi A1 at SEAT’s Martorell plant. (VW)
• Škoda’s CEO said the brand needs a further 400,000 units of annual capacity. (Times of India)
• Bugatti CEO said the brand “is ready for more” and might launch a crossover or SUV. (Bloomberg)
• Porsche will produce 1,948 examples of the 911 Speedster shown in Paris, with sales starting in 2019. (Autocar)
• It wasn’t an April fools’ joke. VW T-Roc cabriolets have been spotted out and about. (Autocar)

Q3 2018 Financial Results

• Released financial results for Q3 2018. Although vehicle sales fell (3.6)% versus a year earlier to 2,548,000 units, revenues improved 0.9% to €55.2 billion. Operating profit before special items of €3.5 billion was down (18.6)%, although profits were up once special items were included. VW said it was almost on track to meet full-year group projections, if you ignored special items. (VW)

September

• Announced a productivity improvement plan, seeking 30% better utilisation by 2025. The firm says there is €2.6 billion in “efficiency potential”. Explaining the targets to senior production managers, VW said €1.5 billion could be cut through systemic standardisation. (VW)
• VW will base its connected car data platform on Microsoft’s Azure. The two companies will partner to build apps that VW’s cars can use and VW will build a development centre near Microsoft in the USA. (VW)
• The CEO of Traton, VW’s truck division, said an IPO would not take place “at any cost”, citing international trade conditions as an issue that could scupper the plan. He also said that shared powertrain was the focus of sharing efforts since it is 60% of the vehicle’s value (including ancillaries such as exhaust, axles and electronics). He also discussed the balance between sharing the dealerships used for VW vans (more like the truck division customers) and developing the vehicles (more like the car division activities). (Handelsblatt)
• Off the record sources said VW would support retrofitting of older diesel vehicles in Germany. (Reuters)
• Audi confirmed the E-tron GT will have 350kW charging capability. (Inside EVs)
• Contracted Unipart to run the logistics for its UK parts operations. About 450 employees will transfer to Unipart as a result of the agreement. (Motor Trader)
• Claimed to have developed a new prototype fuel cell that uses far less precious metals. (VW)
• Lamborghini said India will be one of the top ten markets for luxury sportscars within five years. (Times of India)
• Ending the Audi on demand service in San Francisco directing customers to Silvercar instead. (Auto Rental News)
• Reportedly planning a Maybach fighting super Audi A8 under the Hoch sub-brand. (Autocar)
• Audi will work with Valtech to create a design team that will develop products and services for autonomous vehicles. The team will contain over 200 people. (Challenges)
• Said it is on track to achieve “capital market readiness” at its truck division (recently named TRATON) by the end of 2018 and investment banking experts will soon be retained for a “potential” IPO. (VW)
• Unveiled the production version of the e-tron SUV. Some commentators were disappointed by the car’s performance figures compared to Tesla’s Model X, given the starting price of €80,000. (Audi)
• Pulling out of Iran, according to a US government official. (Bloomberg)
• Audi launched a pilot subscription service priced at $1,395 per month. Subscribers can change vehicle up to twice per month and choose from a range of A4, A5 cabriolet, Q5 and Q7. In addition, they receive 48 hours of discounted rental (Audi say it is free but taxes and fees are excluded) through Audi’s Silvercar each month. (Audi)
• Appears to have slightly altered its outlook on ID pricing to be equal to a “comparable” diesel, implying the vehicle could be more costly than initial expectations if the firm argues the comparator should be high performance. The downside is that a sales target of over 100,000 units is high in the context of high performance diesels. (VW)
• Audi’s imprisoned CEO will reportedly be removed from his post at a meeting on September 28^th. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche invested in holographic display maker WayRay as part of an $80 million funding round. (WayRay)
• The EU launched a formal investigation into whether BMW, Daimler and VW colluded to restrict competition in emissions technology. (Economic Times of India)
• Porsche released details of the modular units that make up its fast charging solution, and will presumably be used by the Ionity charging network. (Porsche)
• Seat executives said the brand would have two electric only models by 2021 and two PHEVs by 2020. (Autocar)
• Created a training program to develop software competences in-house and will run its first class in 2019. (VW)
• SEAT launched the Tarraco large SUV, with sales set for early 2019. (VW)
• Showed the ID Buzz van. Although billed as a concept, sources say it could be in production by 2021. (VW)
• TRATON signed a cooperation agreement with Hino that will create a shared procurement arm and see the two partners jointly develop electrified powertrain. (VW)
• Porsche said it had given up on diesel engines for good. Although there are no cars currently on sale with diesel engines, Porsche had implied it would offer some in future. Now it won’t. (Porsche)
• CEO Diess and the head of the works council gave a joint interview to the in-house magazine. They agreed that complexity must be reduced by having fewer buildable combinations and that more needs to be done to improve VW Groups’s competence in software development, which they attributed to excessive outsourcing (up to 80% of the workload) previously. Diess said a margin of 7% - 8% was required to make the business “crisis proof” and that the cost of introducing electric vehicles will be higher than expected. (VW)
• Hopes to sell 10 million units over the lifetime of the MEB platform. (VW)
• Rumoured to be exploring alliances with other companies, including fellow OEMs, with the aim of creating a consistent set of technical standards for self-driving vehicles. A VW Group management board review could take place in the coming weeks. (Automotive News)
• Added down days in the Wolfsburg factory’s Golf production schedule, apparently because of falling sales rather than WLTP problems. Tiguan production may be replaced as a partial offset. (Handelsblatt)
• Sold a 20% stake in VW’s used car sales platform HeyCar to Daimler. (VW)
• VW’s trucking division believes autonomous vehicles will catch on more quickly in the US and China because they think the regulators are more open to change. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche launched two short term rental programs on a pilot basis in the US. Porsche Drive is a daily rental offering that competes with similar services from existing major daily rental firms. At a cost of $2,909 for a week’s 911 rental, the pro-rata cost is significantly higher than the monthly “Passport” offering. Porsche Host is a peer-to-peer offering that appears to be a sub-branding of vehicles already available via the Turo app. (Porsche)
• Ceasing production of the Beetle in 2019. (Reuters)
• Audi owners in Europe will be able to use a single payment service, dubbed e-tron charging service, to access charging points from 220 providers across Europe. (Audi)
• Škoda’s unions issued a statement saying it had rejected moves to produce the Superb in Germany. (Times of India)
• VW Group has signed new terms with dealers and importers in almost all European markets. (VW)
• VW’s CFO didn’t rule out an IPO for the group’s luxury car brands, calling it a “legitimate question” but one that was not currently a priority. (Bloomberg)
• The investor lawsuit seeking €9 billion in damages for diesel scandal-related losses goes to trial next week. (Reuters)
• Self-registered a huge number of vehicles in Germany ahead of WLTP rules coming into force. (Reuters)
• Porsche and Schuler created a joint venture for a smart press shop specialising in aluminium. (Porsche)
• Škoda concluded a new contract with German dealers. (Autohaus)
• Launched the Atlas SUV in Middle Eastern markets, badged at the Teramont. (VW)

August

• Looking at introducing a mandate for managers to choose plug-in or full electric vehicles on the company car scheme with a view to substantial numbers of electrified cars entering the 20,000-strong fleet from 2019 onwards. One alternative is charging managers choosing non-electrified vehicles more. (Handelsblatt)
• Leaked documents reportedly show that all VW automatic transmissions have special test-only shift programs, meaning that gasoline vehicles could also have unrepresentative test results. The real world impact was not quantified and VW’s PR team seemed unconcerned by the rumour. (Handelsblatt)
• Will build an assembly plant in Ghana and increase the capacity of existing operations in Nigeria. (VW)
• Ford and VW’s collaboration -- seemingly dubbed Project Cyclone -- has worried employees at VW’s Hannover factory who do not want to have to compete with Ford’s Turkish operations for supply contracts. The project scope is reportedly currently covering several sizes of commercial vehicle and light pick-up trucks (Ranger / Amarok). VW insisted that no firm commercial decisions had been taken. (Handelsblatt)
• Buyers seeking to leapfrog the waiting list for the Bugatti Chiron now have another option, a 1,000,000 piece kit developed with Lego. Performance is reduced with a top speed of only 20 km/h but the plus side is that no glue is required so the blocks can be reused for another project if you tire of it. (Engadget)
• Porsche’s rule of thumb is that battery energy density increases 5% each year and the company is working on charging at a higher rate than the already announced 350 kW. (Porsche)
• Škoda executives said the brand was considering building a new car plant and that the UK was one of the possible sites, albeit a rank outsider. (Autocar)
• Said that WLTP certification for VW brand cars will be completed by the end of September, however only half of the models made the cut-off to continue sales without interruptions. (The Sun)
• Production of the Audi e-tron SUV has started even though the car has yet to be (officially) unveiled. (VW)
• Opened a new plant in Tianjin, China with annual capacity of 300,000 units to produce VW and Audi badged SUVs with joint venture partner FAW. (VW)
• CEO Diess gave a wide-ranging interview in which he called the level of change necessary to be competitive in software “exhausting” but expressed confidence that VW could hold its own against the likes of Google and Apple. He also believes that VW’s experience with the eGolf has shown strong demand for a 300km real world range car at a €30,000 price point and cautioned against viewing the electric car in isolation as an environmental benefit, citing claimed equivalent 600 g per km of CO₂ in Germany (against a sub-130g fleet average target). Diess suggested a working assumption of 2025 battery costs of €5,000 to €6,000, implying the company expects costs of €85 to €100 per kWh by that time. (Handelsblatt)
• VW’s independent auditor of emissions protocol complained to the company about the level of cooperation it was getting from executives and received assurances that transparency will improve. (Reuters)
• Reportedly tried to buy self-driving software developer, and partner, Aurora but was rebuffed because the firm wanted the freedom to work with multiple carmakers. (Bloomberg)
• Will spend €3.5 billion on forthcoming IT initiatives up to 2025, with new cooperations and acquisitions planned in the “near future”. VW is simplifying its software design to reduce the number of control units in a vehicle from around 70 to “just a few”. (VW)
• Audi showed an all-electric sports car concept called PB18, potentially a precursor to the next generation R8. (Audi)
• Reportedly looking at a deal sell a 20% stake in online used car platform HeyCar to Daimler. (Handelsblatt)
• VW was reportedly one of the companies prepared to invest in a bid to take Tesla private. (WSJ)
• MAN truck announced a series of efficiency initiatives, including ending one model line and selling the factory that built it. (MAN)
• Launched a new all-electric car sharing scheme called We Share which will begin operations in the middle of 2019 in Berlin and then expand to other European and US cities. (VW)
• Unsealed court documents suggested CEO Diess knew about the diesel scandal for a couple of months before the company’s revelation of the problems, however the company defended this saying it was normal for executives to have discussed the matter before public disclosure and that at the time, executives hadn’t realised the extent of the problem. (Reuters)
• Bentley’s boss implied that his medium-term volume goal is 15,000 units annually. (Autocar)
• Works council boss Bernd Osterloh said that German plants should be fully utilised before new capacity is built in the VW network, and is focused on finding new work for Emden. He also called the views of those saying there is no need for German battery production “ignorant” because “40% of the value of the car will be the battery”. (WAZ)
• Said that it had improved the company’s process for whistle-blowers and there were now around 70 to 80 reports made each month, of which “a relatively small number” turn out to be suspicious conduct. (VW)
• Agreed a two year pay deal for workers in Mexico; 5.5% now and inflation plus 2% in 2019. (Reuters)
• VW’s UK sales operation was hampered by a protest of environmental activists and health workers that blockaded the entrance to the building. (The Guardian)
• VW’s German workers are outraged by a change in the tomato ketchup in staff canteens. The new recipe apparently has less fat and sugar but more tomato; the impact on productivity has not been publicly revealed. (WAZ)
• VW’s credit company trumpeted its success in selling bonds in euros, Russian roubles and pounds, saying that euro and pound issues were more than three times oversubscribed, despite the low interest payments. (VW)
• Bugatti said the yet-to-be-revealed Divo model will not be track-only. (Autocar)
• Has around 300 employees engaged on various projects relating to blockchain use in cars. (VW)
• May have to recall PHEVs and BEVs due to high levels of cadmium in the charging units. (WirtschaftsWoche)
• Said WLTP will result in around €(1) billion of non-recurring profit reduction in 2018, and that in partial response to the new regulations, several portfolio trimming measures are underway, with reductions of 30% in VW Golf and Audi offerings being cited as examples. (Yahoo Finance)
• VW’s performance division head said the brand wants to introduce performance versions of its forthcoming electric vehicles but hasn’t yet decided which vehicle is most suitable or what the product characteristics should be. (Autocar)
• Announced a new COO for the VW brand. (VW)
• Former CEO Martin Winterkorn may have been aware of the diesel scandal in 2007, if leaked witness testimony is to be believed. (Der Spiegel)
• CEO Diess commented that synergies between motorbikes and cars were “not much, probably the same as between trucks and cars”, and “wouldn’t exclude” an independent future for the Ducati brand. (Bloomberg)

July

• Announced the recruitment of BMW’s head of purchasing; he is expected to become the new CEO of Audi. (VW)
• Reportedly hired thousands of car parking spaces to park cars that will be held for sale until WLTP certification is completed. (Reuters)
• Showed the new Audi Q3, saying the car will be in European dealers by November 2018. The vehicle boasts a removable parcel shelf that can be stowed in the boot floor rather than having to be taken out of the car. (Audi)
• Started production of SEAT Arona and Leon in Algeria. (SEAT)
• Porsche invested in rewards start-up Miles. (Porsche)
• Audi’s new electric motor plant in Hungary has a capacity of 400 electric axle motors per day on a one shift pattern and will soon move to three shifts. (Audi)
• New CEO Diess is reportedly setting elevated internal profit objectives. Audi has been told to achieve a return on sales of 12% and Porsche needs to maintain a level of 15%, with Diess pushing back on complaints that the brand cannot contain the costs of electrification in its business plan. (Manager Magazin)
• Reducing production in Brazil for a month, affecting around 1,000 factory workers. (Reuters)
• Executives said a fourth Lamborghini model was unlikely before 2024. (Autocar)
• Will localise production of the ID Buzz and ID Crozz in the USA. (Autocar)
• Škoda invested in app-based AI developer Anagog. Porsche already has a stake in the company. (VW)
• Appointed the head of strategy to lead the VW commercial vehicle brand. (VW)
• Starting an all-electric car sharing service called WE from 2019 in Germany and internationally in 2020. The press release implied that scooters will become a part of the service offering. (VW)
• Announced a series of moves aimed at making the components business more arms-length from the vehicle making parts of the group. (VW)
• Scania stopped production of V8 engines due to a strike at a castings supplier. (Scania)
• Lost a case preventing German prosecutors from reading the previously withheld investigation into the diesel scandal performed by law firm Jones Day. (Reuters)

Q2 2018 Financial Results

• Reported group financial results for Q2 2018. Revenue of €61.1 billion was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis whilst operating profit before special items of €5.58 billion rose 22.7% YoY, however special items of €(1.6) billion meant that the net operating profit was lower than the prior year. (VW)
• VW Group delivered 2,839,200 vehicles in Q2 2018, an increase of 6.7% over the same period in 2017. (VW)

June

• Saw a final judgement in a case brought by minority shareholders in MAN over the company’s acquisition by VW Group. They will be offered a choice of a higher purchase price than originally offered or a dividend. (VW)
• Completed the transition of the truck division into a distinct legal entity. (VW)
• Audi partnered with Cognata to work on simulation of autonomous vehicles. (TechCrunch)
• The launch event for the Audi e-tron SUV has been delayed, it isn’t clear whether this will affect the timing for production and sales. (Autocar)
• Launched production in Rwanda. (VW)
• Following the arrest of Audi’s CEO, VW’s board agreed to “temporarily” release him from his duties and Audi’s head of marketing and sales has taken on his responsibilities on an interim basis. (VW)
• The truck and bus division is to be renamed Traton Group, in a step VW says prepares the division for “capital market readiness”. (VW)
• Porsche purchased a 10% stake in Croatian electric sports car builder and component supplier Rimac. (VW)
• Will increase the capacity of the FAW-VW Foshan plant to 600,000 units annually. (VW)
• Announced a new regional reporting structure where different brands will take responsibility for coordinating the Group’s approach. VW will lead in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, SEAT will be responsible in North Africa, Audi will cover the Middle East and Asia Pacific except China, Škoda will be responsible for Russia and India. China is everyone’s responsibility and Europe wasn’t mentioned at all. (VW)
• Audi is part of a consortium intending to test air taxis in Ingolstadt, Germany (Audi’s home town). (Audi)
• Invested $100 million in solid state battery developer QuantumScape and formed a JV with the intent of mass producing solid state batteries by 2025. (VW)
• Hyundai and Audi will jointly develop fuel cell technologies. Affiliates such as KIA and VW will have access to any benefits from the agreement. Hyundai implied that they had superior experience and technology to Audi, but that the potential business for Hyundai Mobis was a major factor in the partnership. (Hyundai)
• A judge in one of the continuing cases into the Porsche acquisition of VW shares said investors could take action against VW majority shareholder Porsche SE, in addition to VW. (Reuters)
• Ford and VW are exploring potential collaboration on a range of topics relating to commercial vehicles but stressed that equity arrangements and cross-ownership stakes were not under discussion. (VW)
• Fined €1 billion by prosecutors in Germany over its role in the diesel crisis. There were two elements: an actual fine of €5 million, and a “disgorgement of economic benefits” of €995 million. (VW)
• Held a future mobility day where a range of technologies were shown to investors and media. (VW)
• Gave a series of presentations at the CEBIT show, of potential interest are: VW’s procurement bot and the way the company is thinking about the tiers of value in autonomous vehicles. VW showed an ItalDesign-badged flexible autonomous platform with pods that could be swapped over but this appeared to be aimed at pods that could go on land or sky rather than re-using the road-going platform. (VW)
• Audi’s CEO was named a suspect in the German investigation into the diesel scandal and had his home raided. During the week, VW’s board debated a response but took no action. He was subsequently arrested. (Detroit News)
• Škoda is reportedly investigating the use of an outside contract manufacturer to increase capacity. (Reuters)
• Porsche’s consulting company said it would increase staff by about 20% and open two new offices. (Porsche)
• Audi will offer e-tron owners an at-home package of solar charging, battery storage and vehicle charging in partnership with two specialists. (Audi)
• Audi will continue to use Ballard to supply fuel cell stacks for development vehicles until at least August 2022. The combined development services and component contract is worth between $62 million - $100 million. (Ballard)
• Porsche announced the program previously known as Mission E will be called the Taycan. (Porsche)
• Audi unveiled the new Q8, a large three seat SUV. (Audi)
• VW will have to take production downtime in the third quarter of 2018 because it has not certified all vehicles under WLTP ahead of the cut-off date. (VW)
• Participated in the $80 million fund raising round for Gett. (FINSMES)

May

• The majority shareholder in Russian JV partner GAZ may sell some of their stake. (Bloomberg)
• Confirmed the Audi eTron will have video cameras instead of wing mirrors, with the output displayed on cabins in the vehicle. Although the brand pointed to the aerodynamic advantages, owners might bear in mind criticism of the VW XL1, where a similar configuration was said to be unintuitive. Happily, on the eTron, its just an option. (Audi)
• VW’s US dealers will start assisting service technicians on tricky jobs using a pair of glasses with a camera and an earpiece. A deskbound super expert can tell the technician what to do, and even project images onto a small screen in the technician’s eyeline. For a clearer understanding, watch the movie “Spy”. (Faconauto)
• Released a £118,688 Škoda Superb estate that is blast resistant. (Autocar)
• Seat’s chief executive said the brand’s new SUV was bring built at a VW plant because a separate assembly line could not be justified with annual volumes below 150,000 vehicles. He also believes that diesel engines have no future in city cars. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche recalled around 2,000 wooden cars sold in North America because the wheels might fall off. (Porsche)
• Said it would “probably not” implement WLTP for all vehicles on sale by the cut-off with the result that some vehicles would be “temporarily unavailable” and production could be disrupted. (VW)
• Investigating “irregularities” in the homologation of VW Golfs sold in Ukraine recently. (VW)
• Porsche recalled 918 Spyders to fix issues with corrosion in the suspension. (Bloomberg)
• The VW brand confirmed that it won’t attend the Paris motor show this year. (Reuters)
• Started production of I3 gasoline engines at its Hungary engine plant. (VW)
• Audi is targeting €1 billion in operating profit annually from digital services by 2025. The brand also expects the refreshed A7 and A8, along with Q8 and eTron SUVs to increase large car sales by 50% by 2022. (Audi)
• Recalling 2018 model year Polo small cars to correct problems with rear seat belts. (VW). The same problem also affects SEAT Ibiza and Arona models. (SEAT)
• Audi announced “irregularities” in the engine management software of V6 diesel engines. The company has halted sales of new vehicles and the circa 60,000 cars in private hands will receive an as-yet-undetermined upgrade. (Audi)
• The head of the Porsche SE board said in an interview that the VW Works Council should have a say in issues about employees but should not claim to co-manage the business. (Stern)
• New VW Group CEO Diess reportedly met with US diesel scandal investigators shortly before the indictment of former CEO Martin Winterkorn was issued, leading to speculation that he could have provided evidence that implicated Winterkorn. (Reuters)
• New CEO Deiss said VW Group is still looking at the disposal of non-core assets, name-checking Ducati, Renk and MAN Diesel and Turbo as the targets of “future perspectives”. (Reuters)
• Reportedly working on an alliance with Didi Chuxing that would see VW run part of the fleet and develop purpose-built vehicles. (Reuters)
• The Škoda Karoq will be assembled at the former Harmann factory in Osnabrück, Germany. Škoda officials were keen to stress that the main production source will continue to be in the Czech Republic. (Manager Magazin)
• Bentley’s new CEO said the company needed to improve its strategy for connected, autonomous and electrified technologies and that he is revamping the cycle plan to include more electrification. He forecasts hybrid versions of the Bentayga will account for 10% of sales and the next car to get a similar treatment is “probably” the Flying Spur, with a decision to be made in the next six months. He suggested the brand would have a pure electric within the next five years. (Autocar)
• VW publicised its new “Lydia” pick-to-voice system, an alternative to established pick-to-light error proofing. The benefits are that less physical infrastructure is necessary since the production orders are relayed by a headset and wi-fi. The computerised voice chooses cute names for parts: apple and mango replace long part numbers. (VW)
• The US Department of Justice charged former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn over the diesel scandal. The charges involve conspiracy and wire fraud. (US Dept of Justice)
• Said that the transition to WLTP standards in Europe was the biggest single risk to its 2018 forecast. (VW)
• Perhaps in a deliberate stab at Tesla, Porsche detailed some of its in-process measurement techniques, noting the number of measurement points and issues such as the effect of the paint process on car body dimensions. (Porsche)
• Porsche family scion Wolfgang Porsche said he viewed nephew Ferdinand Oliver Porsche as his likely replacement at the head of Porsche SE (large shareholder in VW Group). (Manager Magazin)

April

• Audi is recalling 1.2 million cars globally to correct problems with coolant pumps. (Economic Times of India)
• Porsche’s Chinese market sales could reach 50% PHEV and BEV by 2025 according to sales executives. (Bloomberg)
• Introduced three new engines at a technical symposium: a 48V gasoline, a new natural gas powered engine and a mild hybrid diesel equipped with a 12V system. (VW)
• VW’s head of electrification said that the ID’s initial production volume will be 100,000 units per year when it launches in 2019 -- the company has already said it will install capacity for around 330,000 vehicles for the ID range from 2020 onwards. (Ecomento)
• Announced an electrified vehicle brand for the Chinese market called SOL, in collaboration with joint venture partner JAC. The first product is a BEV SUV with a range of more than 300km. (VW)
• VW will only be allowed to increase their fleet of Moia vehicles in Hamburg from 500 to 1,000 if they can show that public transport has not been disrupted. (Manager Magazin)
• Audi announced a collaboration with Airbus’s Voom helicopter taxi business to offer a seamless door to door urban mobility service for the exceptionally well-heeled in traffic hotspots such as Mexico City. (Usine Nouvelle)
• VW’s works council chief criticised the company’s high rate of development spending saying, “sometimes it is almost like an internal competition to see who can spend the most”. Whilst he welcomed the appointment of new CEO Diess, he also appears determined to reopen the debate on VW producing its own battery cells. (Manager Magazin)
• The Truck division CFO said taking over US company Navistar “would make sense at some point”. (Reuters)
• Announced it would grow its software development operation in Lisbon, Portugal to 300 people. (VW)
• Porsche offices were raided as Dieselgate refused to fade away -- several top managers were apparently the focus of the investigation. (Manager Magazin)
• Porsche announced that it was doubling the number of bees at its Liepzig site, allowing a 250% increase in honey production, to 1,000kg annually, apparently spurred by the high sales rate of its original harvest and the potential as a hedge against the decline in diesel sales. (Porsche)
• Launched a service called Porsche Flex in Italy that allows owners to choose a combination of vehicles that can be used on set days of the week. (Porsche)
• Announced a new CEO and a series of organisational changes. VW Brand head Herbert Diess becomes group CEO whilst keeping his VW brand responsibilities. The company will have six business areas, plus China and new brand groups have been created Volume (VW, SEAT and Škoda); Premium (Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini); Super Premium (Porsche, Bentley and Bugatti); Truck & Bus. In addition, VW’s components division will be merged with the purchasing organisation. The company will also shortly appoint a COO. (VW)
• VW Trucks and Hino Motors (in which Toyota has a controlling stake) concluded a strategic cooperation agreement covering new technologies and procurement. (VW)
• SEAT has been chosen at the VW Group’s centre of excellence for CNG engines, seeing the technology as a potential offset to reduced sales of diesel cars. (VW)
• New CEO Diess said that if sanctions on Russian companies affected JV partner GAZ then the company would review the situation but not “call into question our commitment” to Russia. (Economic Times of India)
• Porsche invested in Anagog, a company that makes in-app data analysis tools so users do not have to send personal data to the cloud. (Porsche)
• Not planning to replace the VW Beetle at the end of the current product cycle saying a “new new new Beetle” would be too much of a stretch. (Forbes)
• Terminated all contracts with Prevent Group, who are now threatening legal action. Prevent were the source of substantial misery for VW when they unilaterally stopped shipments of several critical components. (Handelsblatt)
• Škoda employees have negotiated a 12% pay increase in their latest 1 year contract. (Handelsblatt)

Q1 2018 Earnings

• Announced financial results for Q1 2018. Although sales rose by about 6.1%, revenue was up only 3.6% and operating income of €4.2 billion was down (3.6)% on a year-over-year basis. The company blamed a change in accounting rules for derivatives for the profit drop. (VW)
• VW Group sold 2.7 million units in Q1 2018, an increase of 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. (VW)

March

• Lamborghini’s boss said the company would produce 7,500 cars in 2019 and that it might launch an additional model to take annual sales to nearer 10,000 units, but not until around 2025. (Motoring)
• Porsche executives said that they expect charging networks to start returning a profit after three years. (Electrek)
• VW will guarantee that German buyers of new or nearly-new VW diesels can exchange for something else if the vehicle has its access restricted around the owner’s home or work address in the next three years. (VW)
• A potential scandal looms, with rumours the CEO was part of a 2013 hit-and-run in South Africa. (Der Spiegel)
• VW will launch a five-seat version of its US market specific Atlas SUV, saying that the vehicle represented an investment of around $340 million. (VW)
• VW Group’s CEO said that the company’s top management team needed to become more feminine, younger and more international. (Handelsblatt)
• There was reportedly boardroom unrest with some board members believing that the discussion had been structured to reduce their oversight. Answering accusations that he and other executives were overpaid, VW’s CEO it was justified in part because he has “one foot in jail” because of responsibility for the company’s actions -- a slightly odd statement given that the only person to face jail over the diesel scandal was a non-C suite executive. (Der Spiegel)
• Audi’s CEO wants the brand to sell 200,000 all-electric vehicles by 2021 and is reportedly contemplating actions as radical as only offering the next generation TT and A8 as BEVs. (Manager Magazin)
• Porsche employees will get a bonus of over near €9,600 due to the company’s record performance in 2017 (and a token of appreciation for reaching 70 years as a going concern. (Porsche)
• VW’s financial services division said that although profits were up, there is a potential residual value drop of 500 euros per vehicle on diesel-engined vehicles. (Handelsblatt)
• SEAT released its annual report an confirmed the brands modest electrification plans-- one BEV (thought to be SEAT’s version of the e-Up city car) and a hybrid version of the Leon will appear in 2020. (SEAT)
• Said that it would have 16 factories producing electric vehicles by 2022 and that the company had awarded €20 billion of contracts for batteries. From 2019 the company will launch a new electric vehicle “virtually every month”. (VW)
• Audi showed teaser images of the e-tron GT, Audi’s third all-electric car to be launched in 2020 (after e-tron SUV and sportback models). (Audi)
• Porsche said that it will make a total investment of €1 billion in the Mission E factory and will spend €6 billion on electromobility by 2022. (Porsche)
• The VW brand said it aims to break even in all regions by 2020 and that 9,350 people have signed early retirement contracts and that fleet CO₂ targets “remain a major challenge”. By the end of 2020, VW will only produce electric vehicles at its Zwickau plant, forecasting a production rate of up to 330,000 vehicles per year, re-iterating that the ID “will cost just as much as a comparable diesel model”. (VW)
• Lamborghini executives said that a move to hybrids might see the brand get rid of turbos and sell naturally aspirated engines that were closer to its DNA. (Autocar)
• VW and Audi dealers in Germany fear a cull in the rural network is coming after many dealers have been told that their contracts are unlikely to be renewed beyond 2023 and access to models is being restricted. (Autohaus)
• Idled production of the US model Passat for two weeks due to declining demand, some of the capacity will be switched to the Atlas SUV. (Times Free Press)
• VW’s inhouse sausage factory reported a (6)% decline in shipments for 2017 on a year over year basis compared with 2016, falling to 6.8 million currywursts. The plant’s 30 employees appeared unperturbed. (VW)
• Porsche unveiled the Mission E Cross Turismo concept, following on from previous executive statements about the possibility of an expanded line-up based on Mission E. (Porsche)
• Said it will manufacture ID Vizzion by 2022 “at the latest” as the top model in the ID portfolio. (VW on YouTube)
• Has reportedly decided to make the truck business, containing Scania and MAN, into a separate unit that can be listed as an independent entity on the stock market. (Manager Magazin)
• Showed newest version of Sedric from MOIA and a MOIA-branded vehicle that looked suspiciously like an electric VW e-Crafter van. No prizes for guessing which is likely to make production first. (VW)
• Bentley “would like” their next car after the GT to have Level 4 autonomous capability. (Wired)
• Audi said that the new A6 will feature 48V hybridisation on all vehicles. The ICE-assistance will save fuel by allowing extended engine-off operation (while the vehicle is in motion rather than traditional stop/start). Audi claims a fuel economy benefit of around 10% for the technology (note: Magna says that on systems with greater capabilities than the Audi one, 18% is possible). (Audi)
• Porsche executives hinted at a flying car program. (Reuters)
• Will offer a digital key for VW customers, starting with the VW Passat in late 2018. The owner will be able to authorise up to 15 other people who can share the vehicle using a smartphone app -- they can also decide whether to grant the ability to drive the vehicle or only to unlock the doors. (VW)
• Porsche wants all US dealerships to have 800V / 350 kW chargers. (Ars Technica)

February

• Porsche said that it has already ceased production of diesel versions of the Macan and that sales of diesel Panamera would soon stop -- customers are opting for hybrids in large numbers. Although it production of diesel engines for the current model Cayenne has stopped, it seems the successor vehicle will have diesel. (UN Climate Action Plan)
• Concluded pay negotiations with German unions, agreeing to a 4.3% rise and a new bonus scheme that can be taken as cash or additional leave. The agreement lasts until April 2020. (VW)
• Škoda unions are said to be demanding a 15% pay rise over 27 months, threatening “unlimited” strikes until agreement is reached. (Handelsblatt)
• Will invest €80 million in a cabriolet version of the T-Roc SUV. Sales will start in 2020 and the company aims to sell 20,000 units each year. Good luck. (VW)
• Porsche said that it is working on blockchain technology for application in vehicles. Alongside the expected talk of new business models, Porsche mentioned some additional benefits -- a distributed ledger can speed up verification of commands, in Porsche’s case reducing the time it takes for a door opening command to activate. (Porsche)
• Porsche issued a press release championing EVs, in particular the brand drew attention to the acceleration and cornering dynamics that come with good execution. (Porsche)
• SEAT acquired Madrid car sharing company Respiro and its fleet of 200 cars. (SEAT)
• There could be strikes at Škoda after unions rejected the company’s offer of a pay rise in line with inflation. (Reuters)
• VW said that it is producing powertrain units for electric cars (e-up!, e-Golf and Passat GTE) at a rate of around 200 per day. (VW)
  • Implication: Although almost negligible in the overall scheme of things, this suggests an annual run-rate of almost 50,000 units per year -- enough to move VW into the middle of the EV pack.
• German prosecutors investigating manipulation of diesel emissions carried out new raids on Audi. (Handelsblatt)
• Porsche said it would invest €6 billion in electrified vehicles by 2022, an increase of €3 billion from the prior plan. €500 million of this will be for additional variants of the MissionE (2-3 new top hats by our maths); €700 million is to be spent on non-vehicle projects such as infrastructure. (Porsche)
• Porsche and Audi executives said that the two firms would save around 30% investment by sharing an EV platform, in development for launch around 2025. (Engadget)
• Scania and Chinese truckmaker Haylion agreed a collaboration to work on autonomous trucks. (Scania)
• Launched Cupra as a standalone sporty sub-brand within SEAT. (SEAT)
• Porsche executives talked about plans for the all-electric Mission E sports car, saying that although annual production was planned at 20,000 units there is “a little leeway” to produce more; that they were investigating additional derivatives and that Porsche are seeing “a trend towards shorter lifecycles” than the traditional 5-7 years. (VW)

January

• During an in-house interview Porsche’s electronics head said that solid state batteries were unlikely to be in production vehicles until 2025 and lithium air would probably not appear until 2030. (Porsche)
• SEAT is converting 115 temporary employees at its Martorell, Spain, plant to permanent positions. (VW)
• Opened a centre in Beijing to research future mobility technologies and applications. VW now has three such facilities: in Asia, Europe and the USA. (VW)
• Executives said VW’s European dealer network will slim down, but not significantly reduce. (Handelsblatt)
• Audi executives are concerned about the impact of WLTP on fleet targets and taxation policy. (Journal Auto)
• Announced that it will start local production of VW Polo and Passat cars in Rwanda with longtime partner CFAO. The vehicles are intended for use in ride hailing and car sharing schemes that VAG will launch in 2018. (VW)
• Launched the US market Jetta, saying that it would invest $3.3 billion in North America by 2020. (VW)
• Audi is running a trial V2G scheme, installing power generation and stationary storage batteries in customer’s homes. In addition to managing the home needs, the hardware also sells surplus electricity to the grid. (Audi)
• Settled a class action lawsuit (covering 20,000 owners) in Canada over diesel vehicles. (Reuters)
• The VW brand is creating a e-mobility division, headed by a board-level executive, in order to reflect the importance of electrification. (VW)
• Porsche was affecting by warning strikes called by IG Metall ahead of negotiations with employers on a new wage agreement. (Handelsblatt)
• Announced a partnership with start-up Aurora -- founded by the former head of Google’s program -- to develop self-driving systems. Unlike the similarly-timed Hyundai announcement which appears aimed at a retail product, VW have set their sights squarely on mobility as a service. VW said that the two companies have already been working together for six months. (VW)