German automaker Volkswagen Group’s VWAGY over-the-counter stock has fetched far more handsome returns over the past year than U.S. tech giant Apple Inc AAPL and Shanghai, China-based electric automaker Nio Inc NIO.
Just as rival legacy automakers, Volkswagen is dedicating billions of dollars and setting a tighter deadline to switch to a fully electric vehicle portfolio. Volkswagen in November last year said it would spend $86 billion by 2025 towards electrification under a new plan.
The German automaker in March this year said it expects more than 70% of its European sales to be electric vehicles by 2030, up from an earlier target of 35%. In the U.S. and China, Volkswagen expects half of its sales to be electric vehicles by the end of the decade.
That plan would see Volkswagen launch 70 electric vehicles by the end of the decade.
The automaker also plans to build six battery factories. The company's CEO Herbert Diess in March set an ambitious target to sell more electric vehicles than the current market leader and disruptor Tesla Inc TSLA by 2025.
Volkswagen began sales of the ID. family of electric vehicles last year with the ID.3 compact electric.
Volkswagen is slowly rolling out the full ID. family globally. The company has launched the ID.3 and ID.4 and plans to launch ID.5, its first electric SUV "coupe,” soon in China. The ID.4 competes with Tesla’s Model Y and Ford Motor Co’s F Mustang Mach-Es.
In the country, where it is the No.1 automaker by sales, Volkswagen plans to sell up to 100,000 ID. family of electric vehicles this year.
Return Over 1-Year: VWAGY shares are up 70.64% so far this year as of Friday’s close. The stock is up from $17.09 a share in November last year to $34.64, a return of 102.69%.
In comparison, shares of Apple — which is also expected to be competing in the auto space in the coming years — have risen 16.9% so far this year. The stock is up from $118.69 a share a year ago to $151.28, a return of 27.46%.
GM shares are up 44.6% so far this year. The stock is up from $37.47 a share a year ago to $58.52, a return of about 56.2%.
Nio shares are down 20.9% so far this year and have risen 1.6% over one year.
Legacy rival Ford has beat Volkswagen’s stock performance both year-to-date and on a 1-year basis. Ford stock has risen 126.4% so far this year and about 147.6% over 1 year.
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Photo: Courtesy of Volkswagen
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