00:00VW has already shown off quite a few cars in the past days and they're right behind you.
00:05Tell us a bit about those new models and, you know, a lot of them are affordable cars.
00:11So how confident are you that you can sort of introduce the new people's car for the
00:17electric age that can compete with those from China?
00:20IIA is a great moment for us.
00:24Yesterday it was a fantastic day being able to present our new electric urban family from
00:29Volkswagen beside of a lot of new technologies and our ambition is to provide technology
00:36for the people and that's what we are doing now with the entry-level electric cars.
00:40We are market leader with 28% in the electric segment and these new products will give us
00:47another push to providing the newest level of software, technology, connectivity with these
00:54cars and a great package.
00:56And the overall offer, I think that will be very positive for our customers.
01:01Yeah, great.
01:02And you've mentioned yesterday night that you want to be a global automotive tech driver.
01:07What does that mean in practice and how are you going to measure that against, you know,
01:12those that are setting the pace in EV technology these days?
01:16Volkswagen Group has got unique opportunities.
01:19We are playing in all segments from motorbikes to affordable entry-level electric cars over
01:26premium, sporty, luxury cars, then transporters, buses and heavy trucks.
01:32We are providing mobility for all generations, for our cultures all over the world.
01:37And I see being the global automotive tech driver more as in sports and in decathlon in all disciplines
01:45being very good and the whole package should be the best one worldwide and we have all opportunities.
01:52How we develop now our software strategy with partners in the Eastern world, in China, partners in the Western world, for example, in the US, our own battery strategy with the unified cell concept, which we are bringing for the first time now in these new urban electric family.
02:11And then autonomous driving, we are the only European car manufacturer providing level four driving driverless with the ID bus.
02:21And so we have a lot of elements beside of our traditional strengths like design, quality, drivability of our products.
02:28And this combination, we think that's unique in the automotive world.
02:33And therefore, our ambition is to be the automotive tech driver for the future.
02:37Yeah.
02:37Being a global automotive company brings global challenges.
02:40How do you see the tariff situation at the moment?
02:44What's your latest status there?
02:46Are you still in talks with the US to maybe get a side deal, an agreement for your investments there?
02:53We welcome the joint agreement in between US and EU with the opportunity to come to a signed agreement retroactive from the 1st of August on.
03:04And that gives us a planning security.
03:06On the other side, the 15% would be a burden for Volkswagen Group.
03:12That's very clear.
03:13And we don't appreciate the asymmetric deal in between US and EU because it's distorting the competition in Europe.
03:21And therefore, we are counting on our own offer, investing heavily in the US linked to our gross plan we planned in the US.
03:32And there, we are in a close contact and good talks with the US government.
03:36And we hope that we come to a quick solution also during the next weeks with the support from the US government to our investments.
03:45Because we think that's very attractive for the US community, building employment, building a supply chain.
03:52And that, at the end, gaining taxes in the US.
03:57And that is positive.
03:58And it's a better multiplier than having on the other side the tariffs.
04:02Yeah.
04:02Let's stay in the US for a second.
04:04You've long wanted to grow there.
04:06And you've made some investments in the Scout brand, for example.
04:10Now, things have changed.
04:12President Trump is cutting back on EV8, you know, the tariffs we've already discussed.
04:18How do you adapt your North American strategy to those new realities?
04:23Yeah, we are investing heavily, for example, in Scout or in Rivian and another tech partnership in the US.
04:29And we see still a huge growth opportunity for Volkswagen Group with all our brands.
04:36And Scout is one positive example to enter now in the biggest US car segment, pickup segment and the huge rugged SUVs.
04:46And Scout stands for this segment to bring back a heritage US brand to the market.
04:54And what we are offering there is also a car with range extender.
04:57You have an internal combustion engine and offering a huge mileage with these cars, around 800 miles.
05:11I think that's very attractive for the US community.
05:15And the car is stunning.
05:16We were able to present it also yesterday here in Munich.
05:20And everybody is excited.
05:21And also the first order intakes are very, very positive for this car.
05:27So no changes to Scout.
05:28You're doubling down on that brand and that introduction.
05:32Yeah, we are counting on Scout.
05:34And this is one very important driver of our growth strategy in the US.
05:39Your more luxury brands, Audi, Porsche, have struggled with profitability recently.
05:45And, you know, your budget-oriented nameplates, Skoda, for example, have done really well on that front.
05:50And how do you explain that?
05:52And what's the outlook for getting those premium brands back to premium margins?
05:57You have to distinguish the circumstances.
06:00Brands are playing.
06:01Skoda is only playing in Europe.
06:02And has got a very low level of labor costs, mainly in the Czech Republic.
06:10On the other side, Audi and Porsche are global players in terms of Porsche.
06:15Porsche is in the so-called sandwich positioning in between China and the US.
06:19The luxury market broke down over 80% in China and that counts over 25% of the Porsche volume.
06:28And on the other side, we have the terrorist situation in the US.
06:33And this puts Porsche under pressure because both markets are counting over 60% of the Porsche volume.
06:38We don't earn any money on this.
06:40On the other side, Porsche has a perfect product portfolio, completely new, having record sales in the most of the Porsche markets.
06:48But on the other side, we are currently not able to compensate it.
06:51And in Audi, we switched the whole product strategy of Audi, a complete restructuring process of Audi.
06:57We were able to present the new Audi design language yesterday here at the IAA.
07:04And the Audi pass is also very, very promising.
07:08But we have to fight against the circumstances these global players are faced currently.
07:14Yeah.
07:15Let's look at China, an important market for you, where you've sort of had to give up some share.
07:20What's your expectation for China for the remainder of this year and for next year?
07:25When will we see sort of a broader recovery for you guys?
07:29Yeah, this year will still be a hard year in China.
07:31On the one hand side, we are still market leader on ICE models there.
07:36And that brings us to a positive profit margins.
07:39Overall, only a few car manufacturers got this kind of positive business case.
07:45On the other side, we still don't play a role in the new electric vehicle segment.
07:51And therefore, we switched three years ago completely our strategy in China, doing more business in China for China.
07:58We built a new engineering center, the second biggest center worldwide.
08:05Over 3,000 engineers working there in Jefe.
08:08And we were able to reduce our engineering times of 30%.
08:12We were able to reduce our material cost of 40%.
08:15We have a new electric electronic platform, a new mechatronic platform.
08:21And we are entering in the market with the new models in 26 already, being competitive in terms of technology and pricing.
08:29And then we have a huge product offensive, bringing over 30 models by 2027 to the market.
08:36And we think that we will be competitive and gaining market share also in the NEV segment.
08:44And so that is our strategy in China.
08:46Yeah, quick last question.
08:47What's the outlook on your dual CEO role?
08:50Any plans there for the future?
08:53We always mentioned that my dual role is limited.
08:56And on the other side, we implemented this dual role, having opportunities and positive aspects for both companies.
09:07And this year, I agreed to join the whole restructuring process of Porsche.
09:12And then we come at the time where we will decide to focus on one company.
09:21We haven't decided yet to schedule and we haven't decided yet to substitute, but the time will come where we will take the decision.
09:29And at the end, it's a task of the supervisory boards of both companies.
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