VW to scrap models and focus on premium market -CFO tells FT

A new symbol of German carmaker Volkswagen is unveiled at the VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

BERLIN, April 6 (Reuters) – German carmaker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) will axe lots of combustion engine products by the stop of the decade and sell less automobiles over-all to focus on manufacturing more profitable premium cars, its finance main was quoted as indicating on Wednesday.

“The crucial target is not progress,” Arno Antlitz explained to the Economic Times newspaper. “We are (a lot more concentrated) on excellent and on margins, somewhat than on volume and market place share.”

Antlitz said VW would cut down its array of petrol and diesel vehicles, consisting of at minimum 100 products distribute across many brands, by 60% in Europe over the future eight decades.

The paper stated VW’s new approach was a indicator of profound modifications in the automobile sector, which has attempted for decades to boost profits by providing extra cars every yr, even if that required hefty discounting.

Former VW chief government Martin Winterkorn, who resigned in the wake of a diesel emissions scandal, experienced produced it his goal to beat Toyota and Basic Motors to the title of “quantity variety a person” by 2018.

Reporting by Emma Thomasson Editing by Clarence Fernandez

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