German automakers to invest close to 60 billion euros in electric car research

unsplash-logoRahul Bhogal

The German car industry will be investing close to 60 billion euros in researching electric cars and automated driving over the next 3 years.

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​The German car industry, well known with its giants such as the Volkswagen group (which includes Volkswagen itself, Audi, Porsche and others) and BMW, will be investing close to 60 billion euros over the next three years in researching electric cars and automated driving. This was announced during the Geneva International Motor Show, at the beginning of this month.

This announcement comes at the same time as Volkswagen group announced its intentions of cutting between 5000 and 7000 jobs by 2023, the goal behind being saving some 6 billion euros annually and reinvesting these in electric car research.

Meanwhile, sales of cars are expected to slow down, with manufacturers facing a saturated market, as well as stronger regulation in Europe against CO2 pollution. The German car industry also expects the government to further invest, expanding the charging network currently available, which does not fully cover the country.

Investment is also ramping up in other European countries, such as in France, where the group Renault-Nissan will be investing up to a billion euros between 2017 and 2022 to adapt their factories, as well as hiring some 5000 employees.

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