Volkswagen is reportedly planning to produce the vast majority of components for use in its hybrid and electric vehicles itself rather than use suppliers.
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“We want to manufacture the powertrains for hybrid and pure electric cars on our own in order to master the technology and possibly have a competitive advantage,” VW brand board member Werner Neubauer told auto motor und sport in an interview to be published later this week.
The only exception will be battery cells, Neubauer added.
Other vehicle makers have opted to outsource such components to specialist suppliers such as Continental.
Emphasising its investment in electric vehicles, Volkswagen recently announced that it is launching real world tests of its Twin Drive plug-in hybrid Golf in Berlin with twenty vehicles.
The system differs from other hybrids. It can use either a diesel or petrol engine and both the engine and electric motor are linked to a single gear transmission.
It uses electric-only power from 0-50 kph at which point the combustion engine takes over with the gearbox set in 5th gear.
