Day Two of the #FTLive Future of the Car Summit?
Once we were back in from the fire alarm, José Muñoz president and global COO of Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차) and the president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America said Hyundai's eVTOL 'Flying Cars' would be in business by 2028, could make use of fuel cell tech and increase capacity from 4/5 people to up to ten.
Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer revealed that the biggest applause he's had was when he announced VW was bringing back buttons, that he's super-excited about the next generation of all-electric Golf (and work is well underway) and the recent ID. CODE concept hints at much about the look of future VWs.
Volkswagen Group UK Ltd boss Alex Smith said that he'd like to see the Government cut VAT to 10% on EVs to stimulate demand, saying, "Scrappage showed that cooperation between Government and Industry has clear benefits," and "Halving VAT on EVs would be consistent with other environmental products."
Star of today's show was Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson – so enthusiastic about his company and its technologies, and explaining the benefits of greater efficiency. He talked of EV tech that will deliver 6 miles per kWh efficiency, meaning smaller, lighter and cheaper batteries - which equals cheaper cars. He also has huge ambitions to turn Lucid into a major volume player.
Finally, SEAT,SA boss Wayne Griffiths spoke about Cupra's planned assault on the US market, and that SEAT would launch an all-electric car when the VW Group's sub-€20,000 EV is ready at the end of the decade.
Roll on day three - and I'm on stage with Philip Georgiadis, Claire Miller and Hui Zhang at 0950 in a panel discussion: Building an integrated and robust charging ecosystem to support the EV transition.
#Automotive #cars #automotiveindustry #FT
#FTsummit Peter Campbell Financial Times
