automaker created the position specifically for Jörg Sommer, who will be responsible for EV sales for all Volkswagen brands. As Automotive News Europe notes, luring Sommer away from Renault suggests VW boss Martin Winterkorn wants to challenge Renault-Nissan honcho Carlos Ghosn in the emerging EV segment.

“The Volkswagen Group will be assuming a leading role in e-mobility, as elsewhere,” Christian Klingler, VW’s board member in charge of sales, said. “That means sales must focus intensively on this subject. Jörg Sommer will perform this function for all of the (VW) group’s brands and markets, driving e-mobility forward.”

The competition will be tight. Renault-Nissan plans to spend 4 billion Euros introducing eight electric vehicles within the next few years, beginning with the Nissan Leaf we’ll see in December. Most of those eight cars are Renault models, such as the Renault Fluence EV now testing in Israel, offered in Europe, but Nissan’s also working on an electric Infiniti sedan. Renault-Nissan says it will have the capacity to build 500,000 EVs annually within the next few years, and Ghosn believes electrics will comprise 10 percent of the global market by 2020.

Volkswagen got to the EV party a bit late but promises to have one on the road by 2013. No word yet on what we’ll see first, but it will either be the Up! E-Motion electric city car or an electric Golf. Winterkorn has said VW could sell as many as 300,000 EVs annually by 2018, a figure that would represent 3 percent of its global sales.

To help reach that goal, VW hired Eberhard, the co-founder and first CEO of Tesla Motors, to head up its battery lab at the Electronic Research Lab in Palo Alto, California. Eberhard has said we could see 500-mile batteries within 10 years.

VW’s impending move into the EV segment is part of its broader plan to be the world’s largest automaker by 2018.

Photo: Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board for Volkswagen Group, with the E-Up! concept at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show.

See Also:

• VW Makes Big Bet on EVs
• Eberhard: We’ll See 500-Mile Batteries By 2020
• Here’s What an Electric VW Golf Looks Like
• VW Redefines ‘Car’ With A 170-MPG Diesel Hybrid
• Yes, We Do Want VW’s Newest Pocket Rocket

Authors: Chuck Squatriglia

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