Volkswagen CEO says smart cars, not e-cars, are 'gamechanger'

[MUNICH] Volkswagen head Herbert Diess on Sunday said autonomous cars, not electric vehicles, were the "real gamechanger" for the auto industry, which is facing the end of combustion engines in Europe by 2035.

"Autonomous driving is really going to change our industry like nothing else before," Mr Diess said in Munich ahead of the official opening of the IAA car show, adding the shift towards electrified cars was "kind of easy" in comparison.

"The real gamechanger is software and autonomous driving." Mr Diess, who aims to turn Europe's largest carmaker into the world's largest seller of electric vehicles by 2025, is therefore targeting software services for autonomous cars as a pillar of its future business.

Volkswagen expects 1.2 trillion euros (S$1.92 trillion) of software enabled sales in the car sector by 2030, accounting for about a quarter of the global mobility market, which is expected to more than double to 5 trillion euros as a result.

"By 2030 ... about 85 per cent of our business is cars, private cars, privately owned, shared rental cars. And about 15 per cent of mobility should be shuttles, mobility as a service," Mr Diess said.

REUTERS