German automaker Volkswagen will cease sales of internal combustion engine cars in Europe by 2035 as it moves to electric vehicles, but later in the US and China, a board member was quoted as saying on Saturday.
“In Europe we will withdraw from the business with internal combustion engines between 2033 and 2035, in the USA and China a little later,” said Volkswagen sales director Klaus Zellmer the Münchner Merkur.
“In South America and Africa it will take much longer because the political and infrastructural framework conditions are still missing.”
The entire Volkswagen fleet should be CO2-neutral by 2050 at the latest, Zellmer told the newspaper.
In Europe, he wants to achieve 70 percent of total sales of electric cars by 2030. This would prepare the company for a possible tightening of the European Union’s climate targets and even go beyond them.
EU policies have restricted exhaust emissions, forcing car manufacturers to develop low-emission technologies or face penalties if they exceed CO2 emission limits.
