Besides investments in property, plant and equipment, the total amount also includes additions to capitalized development costs of €11.6 billion (US$16 billion) and investments in financial assets of €1.0 billion net of proceeds from asset disposals. Volkswagen is laying the foundations for profitable, sustainable growth by building new production facilities, introducing new models and developing alternative drives, as well as with its modular toolkits.

The Volkswagen Group is investing a record amount in forward-looking projects to achieve its goal of becoming the world’s best automobile manufacturer in economic and ecological terms. We shall continue to extend our innovation and technology leadership. Top of the agenda for us are investments in environmentally friendly, sustainable models and drives.

—Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft

At €32.7 billion (US$45 billion), the Group will spend a large proportion of the total amount to be invested in property, plant and equipment in the Automotive Division on modernizing and extending the product range for all its brands. The main focus will be on new vehicles and successor models in almost all vehicle classes, which will be based on the modular toolkit technology and related components. This will allow the Volkswagen Group to systematically continue its model rollout with a view to tapping new markets and segments.

In the area of powertrain production, new generations of engines will be launched offering additional enhancements to performance, fuel consumption and emission levels. In particular, the Group will continue to press ahead with the development of hybrid and electric engines.

In addition, the Company will make cross-product investments of €17.1 billion (US$23.5) over the next five years. Due to the high quality targets and the continuous improvement of production processes, the new products also require changes to, and additional capacity in, the press shops, paintshops and assembly facilities. Investments outside production are mainly planned for the areas of development, quality assurance, sales, genuine parts supply and information technology.

Investment activities will also include expenditure on wind, solar and hydroelectric power, in order to supply the factories with renewable energies.

The plans are based on the Volkswagen Group’s current structures and hence already take into account the consolidation of Porsche Holding Salzburg.

The joint ventures in China are not consolidated and are therefore also not included in the above figures. These companies will invest a total of €14.0 billion (US$19.3 billion) in new production facilities and products in the period from 2012 to 2016. These investments will be financed using the joint ventures’ own funds.