Volkswagen will halve its range of models to focus on the "most profitable segments"

The Volkswagen Group's Board of Directors announced on Thursday that car models will gradually fall by 50% and up to 75% of the complexity of supply (such as the number of configurations and available equipment), measures aimed at "concentrating investment and resources on products that bring greater added value to customers and value to the Group" and are part of a package of 12 initiatives.

Measures to be implemented "immediately" include:

• Reducing the complexity of product portfolio variants.
• Greater alignment of products, technologies and development with regional markets.
• Adapting the capabilities of the productive fabric to the market.
• Simplification of structures and portfolio of holdings.
• Unify the main technological fields, electronic architectures and software environments to meet the specific needs of Western and Eastern markets.

In this context, it will reduce the number of vehicles it manufactures annually to "demand" from about ten million to about nine million.

The most attractive automotive company

These decisions aim to "more efficiently implement synergies, eliminate parallel technological structures, and further strengthen technological leadership." In this way, the group is exploring a strategic vision of   by 2030, and hopes that Volkswagen will become the world's most attractive car company, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume said.

The company stresses that "development functions will be more efficient," that "digitization, artificial intelligence, and shared services will increase productivity," and that "lighter management structures will simplify decision-making processes," as technological innovation goals and performance programs developed over the past three years "have been met ahead of schedule."

However, he has warned that over the past year, "the global situation has changed dramatically," with "rising costs, especially for border taxes," "high regulatory requirements," and "increasing" global competition, which "has exacerbated the challenges facing the automotive industry," and hopes that the new package will make the group "even more resilient."