The source was Reuters, and the question is not about models that are ready, i.e., whose development began during the EV boom, when even VW swore by electric cars. Macan and Cayenne are products of that. When talking about future models, the discussion was about a 3-row luxury SUV coming above the Cayenne, which will initially be an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle; no one has given a timeline for the EV version.
Both EVs, the Macan and Cayenne, are coming
Porsche will offer four all-electric model series in the near future. These are the Taycan, the mid-size Macan Electric SUV, and the Cayenne Electric, which is scheduled to launch in 2026.
The internal combustion engine version of the Macan SUV will be launched in 2028.
Porsche announced that it will continue its plan to introduce all-electric versions of the two-seater Boxster and Cayman 718 sports cars. The top versions of these models will also be available with an internal combustion engine.
Due to Porsche’s battery supply problems, the launch of the electric 718 is uncertain before 2027. In August, Porsche announced it had abandoned its plans to manufacture its own high-performance batteries, citing slow demand for electric vehicles and changed conditions in China and the United States.
Porsche has ceased development of its EV platform, which was known as SSP Plus, and will consequently make a write-down of 1.8 billion euros. A new replacement platform will be designed together with other brands in the VW Group.
The decision also delays the launch of the new flagship SUV “K1,” as well as new all-electric model ranges for the Panamera and Taycan. And it will likely affect the schedule for Bentley’s and Lamborghini’s upcoming all-electric models, which were expected to use Porsche’s platform. It will not affect Bentley’s first EV model, as it uses Volkswagen’s PPE platform.
Porsche’s luxury SUV is now scheduled for early 2030 and will come as a hybrid and an internal combustion engine version. Updates for the Panamera and Cayenne in hybrid and internal combustion engine models will be made according to the current powertrain.
Volkswagen is cutting electric car production in the USA and Germany. In the USA, ID.4 production has been halted since the beginning of September, and VW has not announced the duration of the break.
The regional newspaper Chattanooga Times wrote that it is very likely that production will not resume this year and/or it could be a longer interruption. VW has promised to pay 80% of wages to employees sent home, and employment benefits will be maintained. ID.4 sales plummeted by -65% in the USA during Q2/2025, and VW spokesperson Michael Lowder said, “VW is committed to the Chattanooga plant, and the decision made is based on adjusting production volumes to market demand.” Chattanooga also produces VW Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs, which feature a turbocharged 2.0-liter TSI engine. The production lines for these are running normally.
According to the local newspaper, several large companies in the Chattanooga area have announced job reductions since July, ranging from the state’s largest health insurance company to an energy provider. Chattanooga is now eagerly awaiting VW to establish a plant for Audi for the US market. Audi would be a suitable “twin factory” for Volkswagen’s production facility, allowing logistics and infrastructure to be shared.
In Germany, summer holidays were first extended by a week, then weekly working hours were shortened by 2½ hours, and now production lines are being stopped for a week. Demand for the IDBuzz model has grown since last year, but VW apparently overestimated the growth. Instead, the ID.4 and Audi Q4 e-tron, which are subject to a week-long production halt, are facing weak demand.
To boost sales, VW is launching a “Maker Month” corporate leasing campaign for vans. The campaign also includes Transporters manufactured at Ford’s Turkish factories.
The German automotive industry is in deep trouble. The VDA, or German Association of the Automotive Industry, announced that over 55,000 jobs have disappeared from the automotive sector within two years. More are coming, as Bosch announced further reductions this week. Now, 13,000 jobs will be cut from Bosch’s automotive sector, and all reductions are targeted at Bosch’s German operations. Bosch stated in its press release that it wants to cut costs as quickly as possible. In addition to job cuts, it wants to reduce material and operating costs, decrease investments in facilities and buildings, and streamline logistics and supply chains. According to Bosch, demand in the automotive sector remains weak, and trade barriers further exacerbate an already challenging environment.
VW is still struggling with Dieselgate, as news came today that the Volkswagen Group lost an appeal in Germany’s highest civil court, where shareholders approved a settlement with former CEO Martin Winterkorn regarding Winterkorn’s role in the diesel emissions scandal, which cost the company over 30 billion euros.
The approval of the 2021 agreement may be void because Volkswagen had not allowed shareholders to ask questions about the assets of Winterkorn and former board member Rupert Stadler, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ruled on September 30, returning part of the case to a lower court.
Under the agreement, Winterkorn was to pay 11.2 million euros, and former Audi CEO Stadler agreed to pay Volkswagen 4.1 million euros in damages.
The judges overturned the approval of the part of the agreement that stated that the management and officers’ liability insurance covered 270 million euros. According to the court, VW had not informed shareholders in advance that the settlement released most other executives from responsibility in the matter.
The sales curve for electric cars rises, levels off, and falls, as it should. The source of variation is mainly external. There are many reasons for the variation, but the trend is what matters.
Similarly, there is variation in the success of different manufacturers and models. In this case, the source of variation is mainly internal. Whoever can innovate and create solutions will win.
Then the winners will be definitively known when sold cars are globally as electric as they are in Norway now. At that point, the cars currently being sold will be hopelessly old-fashioned and without updates. Better ways than wind and sun have been harnessed for electricity production; there will be enough electricity, and its distribution is simple. Oil can be left for lubrication and the manufacture of plastic cups.
How does this relate to Volkswagen? Volkswagen ID. Cross | Mallit | Volkswagen Suomi is the strongest candidate for a new second car – a shame I still have to patiently wait. As someone who drives a lot on sand, I appreciate the protection of the sills and fenders. Hopefully, the interior is almost the same as in the concept.
Neither a Chinese nor an American car will be the primary car in the future either. The ID7, or whatever the model name will be, is a strong contender. I wonder about the motivation of those who call on Europe for help in Ukraine and many other matters, but unhesitatingly choose solutions from distant lands.
I don’t know how helping Ukraine and choosing a car based on its continent are related.
But as for the attractiveness of VW’s electric cars, I’ll throw in a few of my own opinions on the matter. For most people, a car is a big investment, and then you want to get the best value for money. VW is not really among the best in any area, not bad but middle-of-the-road. Unfortunately, you get more value for your money from Asia, and I don’t mean that every Chinese or Korean brand and model would be better. Can a car buyer be blamed if they want value for their money?
Instead of European car bosses crying about revoking the internal combustion engine ban and tariffs on Chinese cars, they should make their cars more interesting.
The superiority of Europeans lies in production chain transparency, safety philosophy, maintenance, etc. Is it better to be consistently good, winning the decathlon, or to excel in some aspects, being superior in one discipline?
Products have many trivial matters of taste and nuances, as well as eternal promises like FSD, to which some give great weight, while others value something else. This applies to all products, from fast food to airplanes.
Generally, choosing a car is a matter of feeling and sometimes a broader statement. On the other hand, in many cases, it’s even a matter of chance. The used car market also affects the sales of new ones.
The overall quality for the car user is determined over the years, not at the moment of purchase. The world’s largest car manufacturers have not grown by chance.
Electric cars are still prototypes, and their required infrastructure is in its very early stages. Many companies will still be born and die.
What are the decisive factors in which a European loses to a Chinese counterpart?
This should be asked of consumers more broadly. European car manufacturers complain that electric cars are not selling. However, BEV sales are growing in Europe every year. Someone is a winner, and judging by the crying, it’s not the European automotive industry.
That’s not such a bad result:
https://evboosters.com/ev-charging-news/europes-best-selling-top-25-bev-brands-and-
This might be of interest in this thread as well:
Volkswagen will hold an extraordinary supervisory board meeting on Friday, reports Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
According to German media, the company’s and Porsche’s boss Oliver Blume intends to leave Porsche’s management next year. This would end his current dual role, which has raised concerns among investors at least recently.
Volkswagen is planning to halt the production of some models, such as the Golf, in Wolfsburg due to a chip shortage.
The shortage has been driven by a dispute over the Dutch chip manufacturer Nexperia, which the country’s government took over at the end of September. China responded with an export ban, which could destabilize the automotive industry’s supply chains globally.
The article below states that Volkswagen has again received its first chip deliveries from Chinese-owned Nexperia after a supply outage.
Nexperia’s exports stopped when the Netherlands took control of the company and China blocked exports.
A new US-China agreement allows chip deliveries - at least temporarily, and China is granting export licenses on a case-by-case basis for now.
Volkswagen’s own battery company PowerCo is more seriously considering external financing as the parent company tightens investments.
Factors weighing on this include VW’s losses and the costs of the electric car transition. PowerCo does not currently have an acute cash shortage, but options are being explored, such as an IPO.
A clear update to warranties in Finland; personally, I see this as a positive development that nicely narrows the gap compared to Asian brands at the time of purchase.
Since Toyota launched its 10-year warranty, used car prices have risen significantly. As competitors can’t come close to matching it, hesitant used car buyers have all flocked to Toyotas, and used car prices are already at quite irrational levels.
The warranty also supports new car sales, as dealerships can offer 20% more in trade-in value toward a new car, and the trade-in can then be resold at a good price while still under warranty. For example, an 8-year-old Toyota is an easy purchase decision for a consumer when it comes with a 2-year warranty.
At used car dealerships like Kamux and SAKA, the price for a 2-year limited warranty on a used vehicle is around 1,400 euros.
Toyota cars’ three-year general warranty.
Toyota itself only talks about a 3-year/100,000 km warranty. Batteries and hybrid systems have longer warranties, but they do not cover the whole car.
I think this is what we’re talking about.
The ID.Polo, updated for VW’s MEB+ platform, has garnered an unusual amount of praise even for its test series versions.
The MEB+ platform will also be used in the updates of the ID.3/ID.4 models (“Golf”, “Tiguan”), whatever model names they might eventually receive. It’s probably unnecessary to say, but with these volume models, VW’s per-car margin is expected to improve.
In this evolutionary version of the MEB platform, Volkswagen is using an unusually high amount of in-house technology (cf. the typical outsource-and-assemble model), so as production grows, the margin should scale better than before.
Referring to the CEO’s statements, LFP battery models in particular are expected to be profitable to manufacture and meet the price challenge from the Chinese without forgetting profitability.
Below is more information on the most significant features and changes of MEB Plus:
The clearest difference in the cabin is the addition of physical switches. Finally, one might say. Screen-centered functions can be left for budget models – as they are cheaper to build – but from the perspective of user comfort and safety, physical buttons are better for certain functions.
Let’s put aside HMI matters of taste and leave the back-and-forth bickering for the Tesla thread; instead, I’ll refer to the changes in the EuroNCAP organization’s 2026 S1/Safe Driving category. These must be taken into account to earn the EuroNCAP points that are important for marketing—at least in the Eurozone.
New assessments of the human–machine interface (HMI) are introduced, evaluating the placement, clarity, and ease of use of essential controls — including the availability of physical buttons for commonly used functions, which consumer feedback suggests can reduce distraction.
Overall, 2026 could still be difficult for VW in terms of sales. Although there is good reason to expect the ID.Polo to be a consumer hit in the second half of the year, consumers have a very good reason to wait “one more year” for the current ID family to be updated with suitable options in their respective size classes.
Individual empirical experiences are in themselves quite useless as evidence, but I was so frustrated with the EV selection when making my choice last autumn that VW really needs a broader range of modern vehicles with reliable availability to remain relevant. Chinese brands are pushing hard, though protective tariffs are of course helping a bit with the influx…
(no one cares, but in the end, the Enyaq was the least bad. I didn’t have enough money for a proper ID.7. I don’t get why it’s so expensive..)