Volkswagen AG’s (IW 1000/8) namesake brand will start making electric cars in North America, as the manufacturer seeks to rebuild its tarnished image in the wake of the diesel scandal.
Production in the region will start in 2021, as part of a plan to sell 1 million battery-powered cars globally per year by 2025, VW said in a statement on Tuesday. The company’s VW brand aims to more than triple its profit margin to 6% within that period. Its electric-car transition will be funded in part by cutting more than 2.5 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) of costs by scrapping underperforming conventional models.
