The current class of the Professional MBA Automotive Industry at TU Wien had the opportunity to enjoy a talk by Dr. Andreas Tostmann, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Brand , opens an external URL in a new windowresponsible for Production and Logistics. On May 16, 2019, Dr. Tostmann gave a lecture on "Transformation - the road to future mobility". In his lecture, he talked not only about the current implementation of VW's electromobility strategy but also about the technical and economic challenges for the future leaders of Europe's automotive industry.

Dr. Tostmann began his talk by comparing the situation in e-mobility between the years 2009 and 2019. Not only technological development, but also social changes and environmental issues such as global greenhouse gas emissions have played an important role in the automotive industry. He talked about why the electric car will be a solution for the decarbonisation of road transport, described the current problems in the production of electric vehicles and explained the possible solutions and future trends. He also gave an overview of how Volkswagen is preparing for the future in order to reach the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

New drive systems, autonomous driving, the entry of the IT industry into the automotive sector and a change in customer behavior: The automotive industry is currently undergoing a rapid transformation. In almost all of these changes, digitalization plays a crucial role. "Especially in Europe, where we are particularly successful in mechanical engineering and less in digitalization, future leaders with agile teams must ensure to combine these two worlds even better."