Automotive News Europe — 2026-08-13
Automotive Industry
Volkswagen Group is laying out the industrial logic behind a major reduction in its model lineup and variants.
The automaker, whose brands include VW, Audi and Skoda, plans to cut its model range by as much as 50 percent and the number of variants by up to 75 percent. The move will reduce costs and concentrate investment on VW’s most important vehicles.
In an internal document titled Future Picture 2030 seen by Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche, CFO Arno Antlitz and development chief Werner Tietz said reducing complexity will allow the group to maintain technological leadership while investing less.
“VW Group is one of the world’s most innovative automakers, but it also invests more than all of its competitors,” Antlitz said in the document.
VW invested €34.4 billion in 2025, including €19.4 billion in R&D. Its investment ratio of 11.8 percent of revenue was significantly higher than that of many competitors, according to the document.
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Antlitz said the group needs to reduce the cost per vehicle. “We will achieve this through less complexity, simpler structures and processes, and a consistent focus of our vehicle and equipment offerings on what our customers want,” he said.
Fewer products, more technology
VW Group offers about 150 model lines across its brands, which also include Bentley, Cupra, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and commercial vehicles.
The group’s success for decades was partly built on its ability to cover almost every market niche with its own models and variants.
VW plans to offer fewer products but make them technology leaders, rather than spread development resources across a broad model range.
VW brand is expected to focus on high-volume vehicles including the Golf, Tiguan, T-Roc and Passat, as well as the company’s most important electric vehicles. Current models that could be axed include the slow-selling ID5 electric coupe-styled SUV and the Taigo, an combustion-powered, coupe-styled SUV that overlaps with the T-Cross and T-Roc.
Audi could eliminate body styles such as its sportback variants. Audi has already started shrinking its range by phasing out the A1 hatchback and Q2 crossover that generate comparatively low margins.
Skoda appears less likely to face sweeping cuts. The brand already has a relatively streamlined lineup and is highly profitable.
Spanish subsidiary Seat faces an uncertain future. Seat has steadily lost strategic importance while its sister brand, Cupra, has become one of the group’s fastest-growing brands,
Porsche is expected reduce its large number of variants. The 911 has numerous versions including Carrera, Turbo, GTS and GT3 variants.
Standardization and AI to speed development
The remaining vehicle lines will be developed faster and receive more investment per model, allowing the company to accelerate technological development.
“We are aligning development even more consistently with customer value,” Tietz said. “Less complexity in platforms and modules, greater use of artificial intelligence throughout the development process and faster processes will help us put more innovation on the road with fewer resources.”
Shrinking the automaker’s product lineup is part of VW Group CEO Oliver Blume’s turnaround strategy to lift operating margins back toward the company’s long-term target of 8 to 10 percent. The group’s margin in the first half was 4.2 percent.
Blume’s plan calls for simpler organizational structures, more regionalized development and production capacity aligned with annual output of about 9 million vehicles.
VW is still considering how it will assign new models to plants and could build cars it has developed in China in its underutilized European plants.