Do you know how much the VW Group will invest in new models, environmentally friendly technologies and production facilities in the coming five years? €85.6 billion or about US$106.2 billion at today’s rates.

That’s a mind-boggling amount that surpasses the annual nominal GDP* (Gross Domestic Product) of entire countries, including Puerto Rico (US$103.5 billion), Slovakia (US$91.3 billion) and Belarus (US$63.2 billion), just to mention a few.

What’s more impressive (…or disturbing if you’re a competitor from outside Germany) is that, this sum does not include another €22 billion (US$27.3 billion) that the Group will invest in China from 2015 to 2019!

“The joint ventures in China are not consolidated and are therefore not included in the above figures,” reads VW’ press statement. “They will invest a total of EUR 22.0 billion in new production facilities and products in the period from 2015 to 2019. These investments will be financed from the joint ventures’ own funds.”

All of a sudden, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles’ move to get US$2.8 billion from Ferrari’s stock market listing and sale seems like chump change…

From the €85.6 billion, more than half (around 56 percent) will be spent in Germany, while around two-thirds of the total investment will flow into “increasingly efficient vehicles, drives and more environmentally friendly production”.

The German company said €41.3 billion (US$51.3 billion or roughly 64 percent) will be invested in its automobile division on modernizing and extending the product range for all its brands, with the main focus to be on expanding their SUV range and in particular, the smaller and compact models, as well as on modernizing part of the light commercial vehicle portfolio.

Furthermore, the group plans to invest in new vehicles and successor models in almost every vehicle class, which will be based on VW’s modular toolkit (think MQB platform), allowing the automaker to “systematically continue its model rollout with a view to tapping new markets and segments”.

In the powertrain department, money will be spent to develop new generations of engines with better performance and lower fuel consumption and emission levels, with the company to also press ahead with hybrid and electric drives.

“We will continue to invest in the future to become the leading automotive group in both ecological and economic terms – with the best and most sustainable products”, said VW Group bois Martin Winterkorn.

“Development costs will remain high in the future as a result of high innovation pressure and increasing demands on the automotive industry from CO2 legislation. As a Group, we have the expertise and financial strength to continue to extend our technology leadership and to reach our goals for 2018.”

*Note: Wikipedia describes the Gross domestic product (GDP) as “the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year, which is calculated as the population times market value of the goods and services produced per person in the country.”

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