The expression, ‘to put your money where your mouth is’ is one that could be used for Volkswagen who’re doing exactly that. Since their announcement of wanting to be the world’s leading automotive manufacturer, Volkswagen have literally been spending billions. Research and development costs for the last year alone were up 15% from previous, making the total expenditure 10.2 billion Euros. Talking at the pre-Geneva Motor Show, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, said:
“The lion’s share is going to ‘green’ technologies.”
Adding:
“We have the world’s largest low-CO2 fleet.”
Further reinforcement to VW’s objective to become the world’s leading automaker, in both general and ecological terms, by 2018, VWs fleet is now an overall 128 g CO2/km with 54 models already below 100 g CO2/km. Winterkorn added:
“We are taking great strides towards our goal of making our factories 25 percent more eco-friendly. Specifically, we aim to reduce energy and water consumption, as well as CO2 emissions, by 25 percent by 2018. Thanks to the creativity and dedication of our employees, we are already halfway to achieving this goal. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index also provides convincing proof that we set the ecological standards. The world’s most important sustainability ranking listed Volkswagen in first place in 2013.”
Source; Volkswagen
