Volkswagen Group for years was critical of electrically assisted vehicles such as hybrids, but those days are over. Ulrich Hackenberg, one of VW Group’s top-ranking engineers as well as Audi’s board member for technical development, says “the electric car is the future.”
Audi has used Vorsprung durch Technik — German for advancement through technology — as its slogan since the 1970s. But signs are growing that the Volkswagen Group subsidiary is losing sight of its own advice.
Volkswagen Group development coordinator Ulrich Hackenberg is working on ways to make the automaker’s future models lighter and greener through the use of the company’s modular platform as well as technology from its XL1 plug-in hybrid.
At the same time he says that VW can challenge value brands by producing a car that sells at a price as low as €6,000.
