The Volkswagen Group announced today that it did not meet last year’s CO2 emissions limit. Within the entire fleet of cars sold, he managed to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by twenty percent, but in the end he reached only 99.8 grams per kilometer and exceeded the required limit by half a gram.
Representatives of the VW Group sensed the result at the end of last year, in November the head of the group Herbert Diess told the Financial Times that the company will not meet the European limit “just by a gram or so”. Frank Witter, the group’s chief financial officer, then admitted that the company had set aside several hundred million euros to set aside enough money for any fines.
VW published the exact results of the issue accounting today, it did not meet its target by half a gram, while for every extra gram and every car sold, 95 euros are paid to the EU cash register. If we start from the report of 13 January, in which VW states that it delivered 3,616,900 cars in Europe, the fine it has to pay is approximately and provisionally EUR 170 million.
It seems like a lot, but qualified estimates were even worse. In January last year, the analytical company PA Consulting said that VW would pay 4.59 billion euros in fines, which would be almost a third of the pre-tax profit for 2018. The current estimated amount of the fine corresponds to about one percent.
According to the group’s head Herbert Diess, one of the reasons why the group did not meet the CO2 emission limits is the coronavirus pandemic. Despite this, the group managed to reduce its emissions by a fifth, thanks to the fact that sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids more than tripled to 315,400 units and their share in the group’s sales reached almost ten percent.
Within the concern, the VW and Audi brands are among the driving forces behind the reduction of emissions. Both had successful electric models on the market. Audi sold more than 47,000 e-thrones, an increase of almost 80 percent, and VW was able to supply 56,500 ID.3s, 41,300 e-Golfs and over 22,000 e-ups. The group’s main brand thus achieved five grams lower emissions than the set limit, and Audi also met its target.
Škoda, which is also part of the VW Group, announced at the end of last year, through the head of corporate communications, Tomáš Kotera, that it would not meet the 2020 limit. Unlike VW, it could not supply customers with enough electric cars, the small Citigo was sold out during September. In 2020, the Mladá Boleslav carmaker delivered 15,000 Citigo models, 16,400 plug-in hybrid Superbs and registered 600 Enyaq electric SUVs for its own use.
Although the VW Group did not disclose the details, it can be expected that the Spanish Seat was even worse in meeting the limits, the plug-in hybrid variant of the Leon model came in the second half of the year and the company sells small purely electric Mii only in selected markets.
On the contrary, it can be estimated without specification from VW that the luxury Porsche, which manages to sell a purely electric Taycan model (a total of 20,000 units in 2020) and a plug-in hybrid version of the Cayenne SUV (21,500 units), could have achieved better results. The luxury Bentley and the exotic Lamborghini do not contribute to the group’s emissions with their sales, they count outside.
According to Herbert Diess, electric models are to be the key to the Group’s CO2 emissions in the years to come, including this year. “In addition to Volkswagen and Audi, the Cupra (a sports offshoot of Satt) and Škoda will also launch attractive electric cars this year. This will allow us to meet the fleet limit for 2021,” he said.
The Group’s electric offensive for this year should therefore mean the arrival of the SUV Volkswagen ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron, Cupra el-Born and Škoda Enyaq iV. By 2025, VW wants to invest € 35 billion in electromobility and another € 11 billion in electrification, the hybridization of its portfolio.
However, Volkswagen also wants to insure its CO2 emission limits in Europe through so-called pooling. At the same time, the agreed carmakers add up their sales and average their emissions. As a result, VW merged with the British brand MG, which belongs to the Chinese concern SAIC, last year.
At the beginning of this year, other brands were added to the pool: LEVC, which is, among other things, the manufacturer of the latest hybrid generation of London black taxis and falls under the Chinese group Geely, also Chinese electric car manufacturer Aiways and small German Next e.GO Mobile. The latter company wants to start production of a small electric car in Germany this year.
Other car manufacturers also pool in a similar way. The FCA Group (now part of the Stellantis Group) attributes the sales of Tesla and Japanese Honda, Ford has merged with the Swedish Volvo, and such a Toyota has been cooperating with Mazda for a long time.
For other car companies, last year’s CO2 emission limits in the European Union might not be such a problem. Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said at a news conference to form a group by merging PSA and FCA on Tuesday that his company would not have a problem with the limits within three to five years. Volvo, BMW or Renault should also meet their goals.
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