Volkswagen is looking to expand its market share in the electric vehicle market by looking to Apple for design guidance.
The German car manufacturer has said it will use Apple’s products as a template for designing its new electric vehicles over the next two years. The aim is to adopt a simple design and to turn around VW’s profits in the new expanding market, when the vehicles are launched in 2020, with the most simplicity possible.
According to Reuters, Head of VW Brand Design, Klaus Bischoff has said: “We are currently redefining the Volkswagen values for the age of clarification. What’s at stake is to be as significant, purist and clear as possible and also to visualise a completely new architecture.”
At the start of the year, VW promised to invest a total of €34bn worth of investments into the development of electric vehicles, self-driving technology and digital mobility businesses by 2022.
The company plans to spend €6bn on a new platform designed to support over 20 solely-battery powered models. These will include the I.D. hatchback, I.D. Crozz crossover and the I.D. Buzz microbus.
Kick-starting the developments, VW partnered with Silicon Valley start-up Aurora to drive forward into the market. Aurora has expertise from Google’s former self-driving car project head Chris Urmston, bringing optimism to the process.
Forming the partnerships and developments aims to bring innovative solutions to its customers and focus on bringing them the best user experience, around safety as well as convenience and usage.
– Uber, VW bring NVIDIA on board
– Intel taps into autonomous technology
– Apple to invest in new data centres
The next product in the headlights is now Electric Vehicles. VW hopes by deploying the vehicles it will ensure they remain competitive in all markets, including China where they have fallen short in the past. Additionally, the significant developments must ensure they comply with European regulations.
According to Reuters, Bischoff said the company will be attending the Geneva auto show on March 5-7 to give early demonstration on what the finished electric vehicle could look like.
