‘Future Tracks’ is the new mantra

“Future Tracks is our compass for sustainable and profitable, in short for qualitative growth. We are driven by a fascinating vision – in the long term, we want to evolve from an automaker into a global mobility provider, the number one mobility enabler.” This is what Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen, said at the recent annual investor conference in Berlin. It put in perspective why VW was “once again speeding up the pace of innovation” in core areas.

The first such future area is e-mobility. Winterkon said while demand for electric cars has been slow to get off the ground, the strategy was not determined by short-term trends or current oil prices.

VW already offers the widest range of electric vehicles in the automotive industry which include pure -play electric cars like the e-up! and e-Golf; plug-in hybrids such as the A3 e-tron, the Golf and the Passat GTE, the Panamera S E-Hybrid, or the Cayenne S E-Hybrid; and technological trailblazers such as the XL1 and the Porsche 918 Spyder. “As a result, we moved into pole position in Germany’s electric car market in the past year. We believe that plug-in hybrids offer the greatest opportunities in the medium term,” said Winterkorn.

VW will offer this technology in almost all of its major series going forward which will include the Q7, the A7 and the A8 at Audi; and Touareg and Phaeton at Volkswagen. The new Audi R8 e-tron, to go on sale this year, will come with a range of around 450 km.

The key, according to Winterkorn, was that VW has a viable business model for e-mobility. It is here that its toolkits come into play by allowing the company to electrify up to 40 models quickly and at no major additional effort. “It enables us to flexibly integrate fuel cells into our vehicles as soon as the technology and the infrastructure are market-ready,” he added. The electric cars are not built at separate plants but “leave the same assembly lines bumper to bumper with classic drives”.

The second key future area related to the influence of the digital world on the automobile. “As a Group, we already have the largest networked vehicle fleet on the road worldwide. And we aim to offer all of our vehicles with Internet access by 2020,” Winterkorn said.

The new Passat, for example, comes with a traffic jam assist function that automatically accelerates, brakes and keeps the vehicle in lane in stop-and-go traffic. “We will take the next big step with the upcoming Audi A8: This car will be able to drive at a speed of up to 60 kmph in automated mode,” said Winterkorn.

Winterkorn said with ‘Future Tracks’ VW does not just have its sights set on the second half of the game but is already looking far ahead to the next season. “ It is about engineers and IT professionals working together to make automobiles even more intelligent, safer and more efficient,” he said