A report emerged this weekend from Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper, that Volkswagen AG will be phasing out more than 40 models across its many brands as a result of its new master plan, “TOGETHER—Vision 2025.”
Volkswagen’s CEO, Matthias Müller revealed the new plan late last week, which involved investing more heavily in electric vehicles, commercial vehicles, and mobility, while also improving production efficiency to save billions of dollars.
Volkswagen AG produces about 340 models, but just which models the company will allegedly be discontinuing is not clear. Handelsblatt suggests that slow selling variants and models are the ones that will go to the chopping block. The rumor is likely to add fuel to the rumors from a few a months ago that the Beetle is slated for discontinuation.
The newspaper also suggests that VW will seek to limit self competition, as with the Passat and the Skoda Superb, for instance, both of which are reasonably priced, high quality sedans.
VW, however, told Automotive News that the number of cars to be discontinued has not yet been decided. The discontinuations come because margins have been fairly thin as a result of the brand’s large model range. The wealth of options came as part of a bid to become the world’s largest automaker. To an extent, the plan worked, increasing deliveries, but Strategy 2025 is about efficiency and profit maximizing, not empire building.
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