DHAKA: Volkswagen plans to launch 30 all-electric models to reposition itself as a leader in ‘green’ transport.

Matthias Mueller, chief executive of Europe’s biggest carmaker, said huge investments would be needed as the firm moves beyond the ‘dieselgate’ scandal.

He hopes that by 2025, all-electric cars would account for about 20-25% of the German carmaker’s annual sales.

Latest figures show that sales of Volkswagen-branded cars continue to fall behind European rivals, reports the BBC.

Outlining what he described as the ‘key building blocks in the new group strategy’, Mueller said VW aimed to ‘transform its core automotive business or, to put it another way, make a fundamental realignment in readiness for the new age of mobility’.

VW will focus on ‘the most attractive and fastest-growing market segments’, he said.

‘Special emphasis will be place on e-mobility. The group is planning a broad-based initiative in this area: it intends to launch more than 30 purely battery-powered electric vehicles over the next ten years,’ he said.

VW was plunged into crisis when it was revealed in the US last September that diesel engines had been fitted with software that could distort emissions tests.

The company later revealed that some 11 million cars worldwide were affected.

BDST: 1813 HRS, JUN 16, 2016
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