A Volkswagen board member has suggested that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles could become as obsolete as horses once automakers successfully convince buyers to switch to electric vehicles.
Martin Sander, VW's board member for sales, marketing, and aftersales, told Auto Express that more needs to be done to promote the advantages of EVs rather than focusing on ICE bans.
“I look out of the window: not many horses – it’s predominantly cars,” Sander said. “This is why I hate the discussion about the ICE ban.
Everyone is just talking about the ICE ban.
How do you convince customers about a new technology if you’re only talking about when there will be a date when you are not allowed to use these vehicles – vehicles you have got used to over the last decades – anymore?”
Sander believes that over time, more customers will be convinced to buy an EV if barriers like charging infrastructure and energy prices are addressed.
“Let’s talk about what we need to do to actually convince customers: the charging infrastructure; talk positively about the advantages of electric vehicles, and possibly do something around the energy prices,” he noted.
If these conditions are met, Sander suggested that the number of customers interested in owning an ICE-powered vehicle could drop to as little as “three, four, five percent” by 2035.
No Range-Extender EVs for Europe
Interestingly, while VW transitions towards electrification in Europe, it does not plan to introduce any of the range-extender EVs it offers in China, indicating that demand for this powertrain is not expected to be strong enough in Europe.
Despite this, Sander noted that the lessons VW is learning from its expansion of electrified vehicles in China will help it overseas.
“Everything we are learning in China will help us to be competitive in all the other markets around the globe where we are competing with the Chinese,” he said.
“On our end it's very much about scale, efficiency and cost, and this is what we are working on diligently.
We have to be competitive. There's no alternative.”
