The Volkswagen Group is the world’s leading automotive company in the field of innovative drive technologies. This has been confirmed by a study comparing the development activities and innovation excellence of 20 international automotive groups recently published by the Centre of Automotive Management (CAM). The Volkswagen Group expanded its innovation lead compared with the previous year on the strength of the high quality and number of innovations in drive technology.
Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft said:
“Strong innovation is the key to making individual mobility even more efficient and sustainable. One of the Volkswagen Group’s goals is the further systematic reduction in CO2 emissions from our European new vehicle fleet. The study by the Centre of Automotive Management confirms we have an excellent basis for achieving this.”
The Volkswagen Group currently employs over 40,000 researchers and developers worldwide. In 2012 alone, the Group invested some €8.9 billion in developing new models as well as efficient technologies and drives. A large share of Volkswagen’s investment is dedicated to reducing the CO2 emissions of its new vehicle fleet. As a result, these efforts centre on the further electrification of the vehicle portfolio, expanding the range of natural gas vehicles, and systematically increasing the efficiency of petrol and diesel engines.
The Volkswagen Group’s model range already includes 302 variants with CO2 emissions of less than 120 grams per kilometre; 50 models emit less than 100g CO2/km. Only recently a study by the European Commission confirmed that the Volkswagen Group is the world’s largest private sector R&D investor.
Source; Volkswagen
