VW accepts the challenge

VW accepts the challenge

automotive.at:The European car industry has come under severe pressure from new competitors from China - how is VW meeting this challenge?

Kai Grünitz: Competition is fundamentally a positive thing, and a look at the past shows that VW also mastered challenges very well in the 1970s and 1990s. In my opinion, there are three success factors for this: innovation in production, innovation in design and a technological leap. Just as the Golf I was a game-changer of the 1970s, our new model generation of “Software Defined Vehicle” will now be launched first in China in 2026 and in Europe in 2027.

What will be special and typical of the brand about the new Volkswagen models?

When it comes to exterior design, we want to live up to the claim of being recognizable as a Volkswagen at first glance. Our small car ID.EVERY1, for example, has a clear line and a timeless design. Inside there will be more haptic buttons and switches, and hard plastic will be replaced by fabrics in prominent places. Instead of hidden handle strips, there will be real door handles again - a trend that can also be observed on current cars from China.

What specifications should be expected for the drive?

I am convinced that the future belongs to electric drives. The ID.EVERY1, for example, will have a range of around 250 kilometers. Our successful E-Up model has already shown that users, who mainly travel in the city and the surrounding area, find this to be completely sufficient. Modern LFP batteries serve as power storage, and our new software architecture with a central control unit saves weight, simplifies the diagnosis of defects and enables regular over-the-air updates.

Chinese manufacturers are releasing new models almost every month - how are you going to keep up with this pace?

It's like a wet race in Formula 1 - the Chinese overtook us in the middle of the race and we're currently just behind on sight in the spray they're kicking up. This is not only due to the fact that, on average, people work significantly more per week in China, it is primarily due to the consistency with which business decisions are carried out there. We have some catching up to do there. In our case, many things are often questioned and discussed for too long. With the development of our new modular software, which only took three years, we are showing that we can now keep up the pace.

Do you think the EU will push back the date for the end of the internal combustion engine again?

We want to present our last completely new combustion engine model this year with the T-Roc successor. Given the current political and economic situation, we are keeping all options open. The fact that we are currently developing a combustion engine platform and two BEV platforms shows where our priorities lie.

To person

Kai Grünitz is a qualified mechanical engineer and industrial engineer. He has been working at Volkswagen for almost 26 years. After assisting the board in development at Škoda, he joined Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in 2012 and was responsible for corporate planning. In 2014 he took over the management of mechatronic chassis systems and subsequently other functions in commercial vehicle development. Since the beginning of 2020, Kai Grünitz has worked in his role as CTO “Autonomous Vehicle & T7”, and in November 2020 he became the technical director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles with overall responsibility for the development of the brand. On October 1, 2022, he succeeded Thomas Ulbrich as brand board member for technical development at Volkswagen Passenger Cars.