All Volkswagen Australia dealers will sell, service and charge the brand’s upcoming electric vehicles (EVs) in 2024.
Each will have a minimum of one public-facing charge point, which Volkswagen says is its contribution to help accelerate EV charging infrastructure development in Australia.
Some dealers will invest in 1-2 chargers, such as those in regional areas, others will invest in fast chargers.
Despite the cost of upgrading their facilities, Volkswagen says its dealerships came along willingly.
“This is an entrepreneurial decision of our investors to invest their investment but our standards are actually very, very flexible and compared to other manufacturers in the country we are offering very, very affordable infrastructure development for our leaders – which is why we are having such an enthusiastic response,” said Michal Szaniecki, director of Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles in Australia.
“They don’t have to [add this infrastructure], they all want to. If there is a business case negative for them, this is probably an opportunity for them to say no under the justified reasons but none of them said that even though they might be very much in the outback.
“Of course we want all the dealers to be with us on our journey but we didn’t have to force them to be on this journey. They all chose to be on this journey with us.”
Volkswagen didn’t confirm how much dealers are investing, but said it was “significantly lower” than a $600,000 figure cited for another brand’s dealer transformation.
The company is introducing four electric vehicles in 2024: the ID.4 and ID.5 mid-sized crossovers around June/July; and the ID. Buzz people mover and ID. Buzz Cargo van in the fourth quarter of the year.
Beyond 2024, it plans to introduce the small ID.3 electric hatchback and the as-yet unrevealed, smaller ID.2 hatchback.
It’s also introducing its first plug-in hybrid in Australia with the Touareg R, due around March/April.
