Volkswagen plans to stop selling combustion engines in Europe by 2035, a board member told German newspaper Muenchner Merkur (via Reuters).
Klaus Zellmer, Volkswagen’s board member for sales, told the newspaper that the company would “exit the business with internal combustion engine cars in Europe between 2033 and 2035.” But, he added, it would take longer to stop selling combustion engines in the US and China— that will come “somewhate later,” he said— and in South America and Africa, where he said “it will take a good deal longer.”
Zellmer said the automaker’s entire fleet will be carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest. He wants to see electric vehicles to account for 70 percent of the company’s total sales in Europe by 2030.
Volkswagen’s carbon-neutral targets are close to several competitors; Ford said earlier this year will only sell electric vehicles in Europe by 2030, and plans to spend $1 billion to convert its factory in Cologne, Germany, into an EV production line. And in April Honda said it plans to phase out gas-powered cars by 2040.
Several European countries have their own targets for banning traditional gas-powered vehicles, with Norway aiming for 2025 and France looking at 2040, and the UK planning on 2050. In the US, California plans to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, with several other states adopting California’s model.
