TU-TESL

• 22

On the afternoon of March 17, the automobile group held the 2020 online media communication meeting. Dr. dease, chairman of the management board of Volkswagen Group, said 2019 was a very successful year for the group. The group's business in the automotive industry declined by 4% for the first time since 2011, when the global automotive market fell below 80 million vehicles in 2019, the group's profit reached a new high. And in 2020, Disneyland also said at the meeting that affected by the epidemic, the Volkswagen Group is taking up the challenge. At present, 25 employees of the Volkswagen Group have been infected with the new crown virus. At the same time, the Volkswagen Group will face large-scale production stoppage in many factories around the world, especially in Europe, or it will last for 2-3 weeks. "2020 will be a very difficult year," said dease. The pandemic has brought us unknown business and financial challenges. At the same time, there are concerns about the continued economic impact. " In addition, affected by the epidemic, the global car market's sales volume may further decline in 2020, so the Volkswagen Group's sales volume and revenue in 2020 are expected to face greater challenges. China propped up the Volkswagen Group. According to the statistics released by Volkswagen, the sales volume of Volkswagen in the European market reached 4.5528 million in 2019, up 3.9% year on year. In the Chinese market, Volkswagen group sold 4.236 million vehicles in China last year, accounting for 38.6% of the global sales of 10.97 million vehicles of Volkswagen Group, which is comparable to the sales of the whole Europe in one country. According to the 2019 financial report just released by Volkswagen Group, the Chinese market is still the "profit cow" of Volkswagen Group. In 2019, despite the challenges facing the Chinese market, the joint ventures of Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen contributed 4.4 billion euros of operating profit to Volkswagen, accounting for 25.88% of the annual operating profit of Volkswagen. Although the overall sales volume of China's automobile market has declined significantly since 2018, a quarter of the profit of Volkswagen Group still comes from China. We have to admit that the impact of the epidemic on all industries in China is huge, and the mass shutdown in China also faces huge losses. According to the latest sales data of automobile enterprises in February, FAW Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen, as the best-selling brands, have seen a sharp decline of 80-90% along with the market. But also affected by the epidemic, Volkswagen closed many factories in Europe, and the pace of Volkswagen Group was also affected. If the epidemic continues to spread in Europe, the Volkswagen Group is expected to face greater challenges in completing its sales and revenue in 2020, according to dease. Electrification transformation will not be affected by the epidemic situation in the wave of global new energy, the new energy vehicle market has become a new challenge for numerous automobile enterprises, how to quickly transform has become a problem that automobile enterprises must face. To this end, the Volkswagen Group has previously developed what is known as the "radical" electrification strategy. According to its plan, VW will invest 60 billion euros in, electric travel and digital areas between 2020 and 2024. Among them, the investment in the field is up to 33 billion euros, and the investment in hybrid and digital fields is 27 billion euros. The Chinese market is believed to determine the future of the public in the next electric, intelligent and travel service competition. In 2019, the sales volume of China's new energy vehicles was 1.206 million. Due to the decline of the market environment, the sales volume of new energy vehicles decreased by 4% year on year, but it is still the largest single market in the world, accounting for 56% of the sales volume of 2.2 million vehicles in the world. Previously, Volkswagen group had publicly stated that it would produce electric vehicles in 16 factories around the world by the end of 2022. For China, one of the main battlefields of new energy strategy, the relevant layout is further accelerated. An epidemic has brought China's economy to a standstill, while China's automobile consumption market has fallen sharply, which is not good news for Volkswagen Group, which is in the "big ship turning around". But dease also stressed at the conference that the epidemic will not affect the promotion of Volkswagen Group's electrification strategy. Last year, the new energy plant in Anting, Shanghai, was officially completed. This is also the new plant built by the world's first MEB platform model of Volkswagen Group, which is planned to be officially put into production in October 2020. In addition, FAW Volkswagen Foshan factory is also speeding up the transformation and construction to prepare for the electrification investment. According to dease, the MEB platform of the Volkswagen Group will provide 27 electric vehicles for its Volkswagen, Skoda and sieart brands by the end of 2022. In 2020 and 2021, the Volkswagen Group will launch 15 pure electric vehicles and 18 hybrid models. By 2029, the Volkswagen Group will launch up to 75 electric vehicles and 60 hybrid vehicles, more than half of which will be manufactured by the MEB electric platform of Volkswagen. It is worth mentioning that as the electric sub brand ID of Volkswagen, the first hatchback electric vehicle id.3 will be launched this year, the first Id.4 will be produced in 2022. It is also the second mass production model based on the modular electric drive (MEB) platform after id.3. China will be one of its places of investment and will produce and sell this model in Europe, China and the United States. For a large-scale traditional automobile enterprise like Volkswagen, in the face of many changes in the automobile industry, every transformation and development is no different from an elephant turn. However, at present, although the radical electrification strategy of Volkswagen Group has not caught up with a good time, it is still very decisive. 2020 is bound to be full of challenges, and it depends on how Volkswagen faces them.