BERLIN, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Volkswagen would invest 11 billion euros (12.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the further development of electric mobility by 2024, the German car manufacturer announced on Thursday.
In total, the Volkswagen brand would invest 19 billion euros in "future technologies" which included the digitization of the company, services as well as vehicles, a Volkswagen spokesperson told Xinhua.
"We are at the beginning of a new era. We mean business with e-mobility," said Volkswagen COO Ralf Brandstaetter.
In the coming year, the Volkswagen brand would launch a total of 34 new models worldwide, eight of which will be electric or hybrid vehicles and 12 SUVs, according to the carmaker.
As a result of the "electric offensive", the Volkswagen brand would be "well on track" in regard to CO2 neutrality. The aim was to halve CO2 emissions from production by 2025, and by 2050 vehicles and the company were to achieve a carbon-neutral balance, it announced.
For 2019, the Volkswagen brand would be entering the "home stretch". In production, the company said it had exceeded the annual goal of a five-percent increase in productivity and would achieve more than seven percent by the end of this year.
