Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby open the 65th Annual General Meeting of Volkswagen AG, and in accordance with the Articles of Association, I take the chair of the meeting. I would like to welcome you very warmly, dear shareholders, shareholder representatives, members of the media, and all other listeners and viewers, also on behalf of my colleagues on the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management.
Die Hauptversammlung findet auf dem.
The Annual General Meeting is being held on the premises of Volkswagen AG at Berliner Ring 2 in Wolfsburg and will be conducted as a virtual Annual General Meeting within the meaning of the German Stock Corporation Act. In addition to myself, the Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board, Miss Christiane Benner, is present, and the entire Board of Management. Miss Benner, as myself, will answer questions addressed to the Supervisory Board, and she will represent me should I be unable to continue chairing the meeting.
Frau Kaballow and Premier Weil have sent their apologies to the Supervisory Board. They are unable to attend the AGM due to unavoidable prior commitments. The other members of the Supervisory Board will participate via video and audio transcripts. Also present here are the Notary, Dr. Weitz, who will uphold the Notary Minutes required by the German Stock Corporation Act and the company's proxies. Ladies and gentlemen, let us take a look back at fiscal 2024. The Volkswagen Group achieved a respectable result in a challenging competitive environment and provided appropriate impetus to customer-oriented products and pioneering strategic decisions. The Top 10 Program launched by the Board of Management was implemented consistently, and the targets set were achieved.
On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I would like to thank the Board of Management, the Works Council, management, all employees of Volkswagen AG, and the employees of its affiliated companies for their work, their great personal commitment, and their high level of motivation. 2024 was a rather challenging year. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to express our special appreciation to you. We will return later to discuss in more detail the strategic challenges we have faced and how the various bodies are working together to overcome them. The Annual General Meeting has been convened in accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Association. The convocation of the Annual General Meeting was published in the Federal Gazette on 2 April, 2025. The Board of Management has decided again to invite you to a virtual Annual General Meeting this year.
The virtual format gives shareholders and their proxies the opportunity to participate and engage in dialogue with us at no travel expense and with minimal effort. You have the full rights to speak, to ask questions, and to submit motions. The virtual Annual General Meeting is also much more efficient in terms of costs for the company and organizational implementation, and it is also more resource-efficient than an on-premise Annual General Meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, information and documents relating to this year's Annual General Meeting can be found on our website in the Investors section under the heading Annual General Meeting. Our shareholders can follow the entire Annual General Meeting via the shareholders' portal. The public broadcast will include the speech by Dr. Blume and the report of the Supervisory Board. A recording of these speeches will be made available on our website afterwards.
You will also have found the written versions of our speeches there in advance of the Annual General Meeting. As usual, recordings of the Annual General Meeting are not permitted. A verbatim transcript will not be produced. The list of participants is available on the shareholder portal. You can exercise your voting rights by electronic postal vote or by authorizing the company's proxies or third parties via the shareholders' portal. Only ordinary shareholders and their representatives are entitled to vote in this meeting. You can also register to speak via the shareholder portal. This function is already available to you. You will be invited to the technical check shortly after having registered to speak. I reserve the right to restrict the right to speak and ask questions, in particular if this would prevent the Annual General Meeting from ending on time.
I hereby stipulate that the right to information within the meaning of Section 1311 of the German Stock Corporation Act may only be exercised by means of video communication at the Annual General Meeting. Shareholders who have registered properly were also able to submit statements in writing before the Annual General Meeting. If you want to raise an objection to a resolution of today's Annual General Meeting to be reflected in the minutes, you can do this also via the shareholder portal. This feature has been available since the start of the Annual General Meeting and will remain active until the Annual General Meeting closes. You also have the option of submitting a complaint via the shareholder portal for inclusion in the minutes if you believe that questions have not been answered or have been answered inadequately. That concludes the necessary formal information.
Ladies and gentlemen, since our last Annual General Meeting, distinguished members of the Volkswagen Group have passed away. Let us pause for a moment to honor the deceased. I would now ask the members of the Board of Management to rise. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now summarize the report of the Supervisory Board and explain the changes to the Supervisory Board since the last Annual General Meeting. Following my remarks, the Board of Management will present its report. This will be followed by the debate. After the debate, the vote will be taken. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll start with the Supervisory Board report. Since the end of last year's Annual General Meeting, there has been one change on the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG. Effective 8 March, 2025, the Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr.
Jörg Hofmann resigned from his position as a member of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG. Mr. Hofmann had been a member of the Supervisory Board as a representative of the employees since 20 November, 2015. At the end of today's Annual General Meeting, the term of office of the Supervisory Board member, Mr. Mansour Ibrahim Al-Mahmoud, also ends. On behalf of all Supervisory Board members, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Hofmann and Mr. Al-Mahmoud once again for their good cooperation. Miss Christiane Benner, the first chairperson of IG Metall, was appointed by the court to succeed Mr. Hofmann with effect as of 9 March, 2025. I would like to welcome Miss Benner once again.
As you have seen from the agenda, the Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting that, with effect at the end of the AGM today, to elect Mr. Mohammed Sahif Al-Suwaidy for a full term of office to the Supervisory Board that is until the end of the Annual General Meeting that decides on the approval of his actions for fiscal 2029. Mr. Al-Suwaidy is Chairman of the Board of Qatar Investment Authority. That's the sovereign wealth fund of the Emirate of Qatar. Mr. Al-Suwaidy's CV and further information on the nomination are presented in the annex to the agenda. Mr. Al-Suwaidy has already declared that he is willing to assume the office provided he is elected today. There have been no personnel changes in the Board of Management since the end of last year's Annual General Meeting.
So much for the personnel details in the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management. Ladies and gentlemen, in fiscal 2024, the work of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG and its committees focused on the Volkswagen Group's strategic alignment, its further development in the core markets, and its transformation. The Supervisory Board regularly deliberated on the company's position and development in the reporting year. We supervised and supported the Board of Management in its running of the business and advised it on issues relating to the management of the company and particularly on sustainability issues in accordance with our duties under the law, the Articles of Association, and the rules of procedure. The Supervisory Board was directly involved in all decisions of fundamental importance to the group. Additionally, we discussed strategic considerations with the Board of Management at regular intervals.
The Board of Management complied with its disclosure obligations, which are set out in the information policy adopted by the Supervisory Board. The Board of Management provided us with information regularly, promptly, and comprehensively, both in writing and verbally, particularly on all matters of relevance to the company relating to its strategy, its business development, and the company's planning and position. This also included the risk situation and risk management. We were regularly informed about the views and interests of affected stakeholders with regard to sustainability-related impacts within the scope of statutory reporting requirements, as well as reporting requirements laid down by the Supervisory Board. We received the documents relevant to our decisions in good time for our meetings. At regular intervals, we also received a detailed report from the Board of Management on the current business position and the forecast for the current year.
I met regularly with the Chairman of the Board of Management to discuss important current issues. These included, among others, the Group's strategy and planning, its business development, and the risk situation and risk management, including integrity and compliance issues in the Volkswagen Group and sustainability issues. However, the Supervisory Board not only worked very closely with the Board of Management, but also engaged in dialogue with our stakeholders. I regularly discussed Supervisory Board-specific topics with investors and, in consultation with the Board of Management, also non-Supervisory Board-specific topics. One of the focuses of the debate was corporate governance and ESG issues. I informed the Supervisory Board of such discussions with investors after they had taken place. The Supervisory Board held a total of 10 meetings in fiscal 2024. Five of the meetings were held face-to-face and five as video or conference calls.
Calculated for all meetings held during the fiscal year and for all Supervisory Board members in office, the attendance rate was 88%. Supervisory Board members who did not attend a meeting for reasons other than a possible conflict of interest were able to engage with the meeting topics using the preparatory documents and could participate in the resolutions by means of a written vote. Particularly urgent matters were decided either at meetings convened at short notice as video conference calls or using the written circulation procedure. The Executive Committee met 16 times in the reporting year. The Nomination Committee had one meeting. The Audit Committee had four meetings. The Mediation Committee did not have to be convened in 2024.
A detailed description of the topics discussed in the meetings of the Supervisory Board and its committees, as well as an overview of the individual participation of the members of the Supervisory Board in the meetings, can be found in the report of the Supervisory Board on pages 12 through to 15 of the annual report. Ladies and gentlemen, on the 15th of November 2024, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board submitted the annual declaration of conformity with the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code in accordance with Section 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The declaration of conformity is available in the Corporate Governance section of our website under Investors.
Further information on the implementation of the recommendations and suggestions in the German Corporate Governance Code can be found in the Corporate Governance chapter starting on page 24 and in the notes to the consolidated financial statements on page 645 of the annual report. In 2020, the Audit Committee agreed on a suitable procedure with the Board of Management for continuous monitoring of the Volkswagen Group's related party transactions. In the reporting year, there were no cases in which a requirement to provide consent and a disclosure obligation arose based on the rules for related party transactions. The dependent company report presented by the Board of Management was audited by our auditor, Ernst & Young.
The Supervisory Board also reviewed this report and stated that upon completion of its examination, there were no objections to be raised to the concluding declaration by the Board of Management in the dependent company report. The Supervisory Board also commissioned Ernst & Young to conduct an external limited assurance review of the content of the combined separate non-financial report for 2024. Upon completion of its own independent examination of the combined separate non-financial report for 2024, taking the findings of the audit conducted by Ernst & Young into account, the Supervisory Board did not have any objections. We also resolved that together with the Board of Management, we would prepare the remuneration report for fiscal 2024. In addition to the statutory examination of completeness, Ernst & Young also reviewed the content of the remuneration report and issued an unqualified audit opinion. This ends my verbal report.
Please also refer to the comprehensive written report of the Supervisory Board, which starts on page 11 of the annual report and on our website in the investor section under the keyword Annual General Meeting. The remuneration report is also available on this website. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention. I would now like to ask Dr. Blume to give the Board of Management report. Dr. Blume, over to you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Pötsch. Dear shareholders, members of the Supervisory Board, colleagues, welcome to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Volkswagen AG. I'm delighted that you have been able to join us today for this virtual Annual General Meeting. The Volkswagen Group moves people. Our mission is mobility for generations past and present, with fascinating products and excellent services. We are part of our customers' lives, yesterday, today, and above all, tomorrow.
We live in a rapidly changing world, and this also means that the way people understand and use mobility is also changing. Together with you, our shareholders, we want to shape this change around the world with confidence and with a clear ambition. We want to be the global technology driver of the automotive industry. In the past year, we have laid the crucial foundations for realizing this vision. In terms of our products and design and technologies and quality in our structures and our processes, costs and investments in software, battery technology, and our platforms, and in our regions like China and North America, and we have delivered with a comprehensive strategy that we've developed for the Volkswagen Group. In operational terms, we have been able to deliver and fix our trouble spots.
We came up with the biggest product push in our company's history with more than 30 new products. This year also, we are going to step up the pace. We are going to show another strength with a product push with another 30 new vehicle models. At the Frankfurt Motor Show this year, we are going to unveil our all-electric small car family. Now, with our new strategy in China, we have already switched to delivery mode. We will also start our first in-house battery cell production in Salzgitter. When it comes to highly automated driving, we are now on the verge of groundbreaking milestones. All of this goes hand in hand with this intensive work on bringing costs down and showing investment discipline. Now, let's have a closer look at the facts. 2024 has been a challenging year for the Volkswagen Group.
The entire industry was and will still be challenged, challenged by a weak EU market with much stronger competition, with strong innovation and price dynamism in China, also a flatter ramp-up of electric mobility in Europe and in the United States, and also a supply network that is structurally and financially challenged, increasing regional regulation, which also leads to higher costs for products, high investments that we need to shoulder for flexible drivetrain technologies as we transition towards e-mobility. Since this year, certainly, there has been more trade uncertainty with the United States. What that means is we are facing significant negative factors on our operating result, which also puts our margins under pressure. Now, with our performance programs across all brands, we will be able and are able to compensate those. Going forward, we also expect challenging conditions.
What that means is we're going to be single-minded in addressing them strategically and also operationally. At the same time, we know what we can and need to do, get a handle on costs, improve our investments, and also to boost our productivity and profitability, which in turn will also strengthen our financial resilience. We delivered around 9 million vehicles, almost matching the previous year level. Our revenues amounted to EUR 324.7 billion. The operating profit was approximately EUR 19 billion after special items of EUR 2.6 billion, which were in particular due to provisions for the restructuring of our company. This corresponds to a return on sales of 5.9%, including special items, and 6.7%, excluding special items. The automotive division's net cash flow amounted to EUR 5 billion, and the division's net liquidity amounted to approximately EUR 34 billion.
All in all, these are solid results in a difficult global environment and also in a time of major restructuring work ongoing. We are certainly not satisfied with those results because we are aiming for more. Now, you, our shareholders, are rightly interested in sharing in these results. The Management Board and the Supervisory Board are therefore proposing a dividend of EUR 6.3 per ordinary share and EUR 6.36 per preferred share, which represents a stable payout ratio of 30% of our net income. Now, let's have a look at the current situation. The figures of the first quarter 2025 are now clearly showing that our products are very well received in the markets. Our sales, our order book are growing.
At the same time, we see an operating result in the first quarter of only EUR 2.9 billion, which was impacted by many special items such as provisions that accounted to amount to EUR 1.1 billion. Now, clearly, we need to focus on the things that we can control ourselves to continue to work on cost, be disciplined in terms of investments. Despite the challenging, uncertain economic conditions, we remain determined to further consolidate our position of strength. Included in those are our performance programs. They continue to be a key driver for the profitability of our brands. For the full year of 2025, we expect sales to be around 5% and the operating margin to be between 5.5% and 6.5%. Now, the recently announced U.S. tariffs have not been taken into account there.
The cash flow target for the automotive division is between EUR 2 billion and EUR 5 billion, which also includes cash outflows for investments in the future and also restructuring measures. Net liquidity in 2025 is expected to be between EUR 34 billion and EUR 37 billion. To be very clear about this, we certainly cannot be satisfied with this outlook. We know what needs to be done, but we cannot fully rule out existing conditions that weigh on our operations. Dear shareholders, we have all been closely watching the development of our share price. Let me be very clear, we're not happy with the overall performance, especially in fiscal 2024. For one thing, we have already made great progress in realigning our group. The capital market looks at the absolute performance and also the current risk situation that's been priced in.
In this general environment, in 2025, we're one of the very few car makers in the world to see a positive share price trend. Again, this is all happening at a low level. Clearly, our sights are set much higher. The strength of the Volkswagen Group lies precisely in the strength of our brands. We inspire people with a fascinating range of products across all segments. We delivered in 2024, as we had promised. It was our most comprehensive product push with more than 30 new models, and more than half of them were fully electric vehicles. There were highlights such as the new Volkswagen Tiguan, the Škoda Superb, and the Cupra Terramar, to name but a few. The Audi Q6 e-tron and the Porsche Macan have also made a successful debut on the new PPE platform.
PPE is our all-electric platform, which has been specifically designed for a high-performance profile in the very important premium and luxury segment. In our home market of Europe, we are extending our lead in being the all-electric vehicle market leader. There is a clear plan for our success. We have significantly sharpened our designs. We have further refined the identity of the individual brands and the models. We have measurably improved the quality of our products and our services across all brands with disciplined programs. The reward for that is excellent. Great feedback that we receive from our customers and from the press. Our products have been winning numerous awards. Just an example is the ID.7, which is our top-of-the-range electric model from Volkswagen. In the renowned ADAC vehicle test, it raked in a rating of very good, which is the first vehicle ever to achieve this rating.
In 2025, around 30 new models will make their debut on the markets around the world. Excellent vehicles that will put us at the forefront of the competition. Models as the new Volkswagen T-Roc, the new Audi Q3, the highly emotional 911 derivatives from Porsche, and many, many more. At the IAA, the Frankfurt Motor Show, we will be unveiling for the first time the electric small cars from our VW, Skoda, and Cupra brands, electric cars for around EUR 25,000. Electric mobility for everyone, a promise that the Volkswagen Group will keep. That is also why we are going one step further with an electric entry-level model of EUR 20,000. It was just a few weeks ago that we celebrated the world premiere of the VW ID. Everyone has charismatic design, striking road presence, and we also got motivating feedback.
This small model has great potential to give electric mobility a big boost. The speed at which mobility is changing varies from region to region around the world. The criticism leveled at the Volkswagen Group only a short time ago is now precisely our competitive advantage, namely our broad, our flexible product portfolio across all types of drivetrain solutions, be it fully electric vehicles, efficient combustion engines, or modern hybrid concepts. We're combining plug-in hybrids with our combustion engines. In the future, it will then also be possible to combine our all-electric vehicles with range extenders. We see already a trend in China towards this transitional technology. What it is, it's a small internal combustion engine that charges the battery while the car is moving, and it can therefore significantly extend the range of the EVs.
Now, we will enter this market in China from 2026 with the VW ID era, which premiered at the Shanghai Auto Show. Many people in the U.S. are also interested in this powertrain for our Scout brand vehicles. Ladies and gentlemen, the key management tool for our operational and strategic activities are what we call the Top 10 Programs. They come with quantifiable milestones, with ambitious targets, clear-cut responsibility, and a systematic roadmap, which is applicable for all brands, for all regions globally. In 2024, we've achieved the goals we've set ourselves. We've been very disciplined in what we did, and some of them we have achieved ahead of schedule. This year also, we will be guided by an ambitious Top 10 Program. The agreement that we concluded at the end of 2024 for the future of Volkswagen, called Zukunft Volkswagen, is an important milestone.
It forms the basis for an economically successful future for Volkswagen and our German operations. It's an agreement based on strong pillars: a future-proof collective bargaining agreement, competitive structures for the workforce and the factories, and also company agreements to accelerate the implementation of that program. This makes our strategic target of a return on sales of at least 6.5% for the VW brand a realistic medium-term goal. It's a significant increase in earnings with a major impact on the group. We have also agreed similar concepts for Audi and Porsche here in Germany. What it means is quality made in Germany at competitive costs. We believe this is possible. Work has begun, but the bigger part of the implementation still lies ahead of us. Our company does not just want to be a mere part of the accelerating technological change in the world.
We want to shape it as a global technology driver. We want to offer the best automotive technology for everyone, from entry-level models all the way to the sport and luxury segment. That is our ambition. What gives us the strength, the confidence to achieve that? It is our unique combination of global footprint and local expertise, our flexibility, our willingness to change. It's not just technology that we develop. We also then scale it in all the areas of innovation where it matters: in software, in battery technology, and vehicle platforms. Volkswagen stands for automotive expertise, design, and quality. Our maxim is that we concentrate on what makes us strong, our strengths. Wherever it makes sense, we also cooperate with leading partners from industry and technology, as we do in software. Software is a key success factor.
We have made significant progress in this area in 2024, and certainly that was necessary because the problems of the past are well known. We have successfully realigned our subsidiary CARIAD and also integrated our new competitive software architectures into our cars. The feedback we've received has been positive. We are winning comparative tests now, and that was not always the case in the past when it comes to software. What is really wanted and needed are reliable cars with highly automated driving systems, excellent infotainment solutions, great convenience with connectivity and customization, and continuous OTA over-the-air updates. In other words, you can get new software functions for your car without having to go to the workshop. This is a new direction for our software activities.
In the future, our own software company, CARIAD, will focus on key horizontal technologies such as autonomous driving, infotainment, cloud services, data management, and the backend. For our global strategy, we have teamed up with partners, XPeng in China and our U.S. partner, Rivian, for the other regions of the world. Today, we design cars from a smart digital world. Software features therefore are a key factor when we develop a new vehicle. This is what is called software-defined vehicles, or SDV for short. We want to set the benchmark here. Together with Rivian, we are now designing a modern, high-performance SDV architecture. We will then integrate it into the Volkswagen Group's product portfolio from 2027. It is going to be a scalable solution for all segments.
In 2025 already, we will be rolling out a locally developed new software architecture in the highly competitive Chinese market. We believe automated driving must be an important part of our product offering for all vehicle classes, bringing you advanced driver-assist systems and the use of artificial intelligence. This is also what ADA, or the Automated Driving Alliance, stands for. ADA is our cooperation between CARIAD and Bosch. They will together develop a unique European tech stack for automated driving. It is a technology toolkit to make the vehicle see, understand, and drive. In China, we cooperate in a joint venture with CARIAD and Horizon Robotics. We are making good progress. Our joint venture, called Corizon, will deliver level 2+ solutions for the Chinese market starting this year and then followed by level 2++ from 2026. Vehicles that have much improved properties, they are very close to highly automated driving.
They will make mobility safer and more comfortable. When it comes to autonomous driving, innovative mobility services are also important. In Hamburg, we will soon be launching the series version of the first autonomous ID. Buzz shuttle. We are the first car maker to develop a level 4 autonomous fleet vehicle for mass production. What level 4 means is driving without human intervention. Mobileye, our development partner, provides the digital driver. Our group-owned mobility service provider, MOIA, then takes care of the fleets, booking apps, and passenger management. In the vehicle itself, software then handles all the processes and safety tasks. In the U.S., we will deploy the autonomous ID. Buzz autonomous car on the Uber ride-sharing platform. Trials will start this year, and in 2026, we'll be ready to start initially in Los Angeles.
In the medium term, we are looking to launch a fleet of several thousand ID. Buzz vehicles in the U.S. We have reached a milestone in the development of the SSP. The SSP is our powerful, scalable platform for electric cars. The technical scope of that modular architecture has been defined, and we're now working on implementation. The first vehicles based on the SSP will be presented in 2027. We are then planning to introduce those vehicles across our brands by 2030. Combined with the Rivian software architecture, this is a major technology leap, and it also gives our brands great flexibility to shape their own product portfolios. At the same time, in China, we will launch the CSP platform. Battery development is also an integral part of our technology strategy. With our unified cell, we've created a global, across-brand technology platform.
It brings complexity down, also enables economies of scale, and we're turning to external battery suppliers on the one hand, but at the same time, we're also taking this key technology into our own hands with our subsidiary PowerCo. That is true for development and for production. This year, we will start production in Salzgitter, in Germany, in Valencia, Spain, and St. Thomas, Canada. Construction of the production facilities is also on schedule. We are already working on the next generation of batteries, which is solid-state and sodium-nickel. Solid-state cells require no liquid materials. They offer even greater driving range and faster charging. Nickel-sodium batteries work without lithium. It really is the entire battery value chain that's important to us. That is also why in 2024, we acquired a stake in a mining company in North America.
This is another step towards securing our supply of raw materials and really the key to cheaper batteries and therefore essentially cheaper products for our customers. Successful e-mobility also requires a high-quality charging infrastructure. Today, our LE charging network already provides access to more than 850,000 charging outlets in Europe, an increase of 30%. We do not stop there. We are thinking about bidirectional charging, cars to be used as mobile power banks to manage an entire battery network. With LE, we also plan now to build and operate large-scale energy storage systems. This is a potential growth market, which is enormously promising, and it is an important group contribution to the energy transition. Ladies and gentlemen, let us now take a look at the most important markets and their potential for the Volkswagen Group.
Europe is our home, and this is where we are the market leader, and we want to further consolidate our position here. The figures of the first quarter give us further momentum. We almost doubled our sales of electric vehicles in Europe, and we have significantly increased our market share to now 26%. Seven of the ten best-selling all-electric vehicles in Germany come from the Volkswagen Group. We have outperformed the market worldwide with the exception of China, where we are deliberately continuing to pursue our value-over-volume strategy. The dynamics of the Chinese market are unparalleled. We are a 22% market leader with ICE vehicles and have grown our position with the development of electric mobility. We are seeing an unprecedented development in the largest car market of the world.
Now, this is what we call China speed, and we want to keep up with it in the Volkswagen Group. About two years ago, we have launched our new strategy called In China for China, and it's looking precisely to achieve that. We now have an entirely realigned product strategy, which is entirely tailored to the needs of Chinese customers. We've launched our development center in Hefei, where we currently have 3,000 Chinese experts working for us with strong regional technology partners and a single-minded, well-structured work to take cost out. The results are already measurable. Our development times have been reduced by around 30%. Cost, material costs have been reduced by 40%. We're also playing out our strengths like quality, safety, and services. We are now delivering, and we are stepping up the pace and also our competitiveness in the Chinese market.
Together with our partner SAIC, we have launched the new progressive Audi brand, which is our first model developed in China for China, and it will be launched at the end of 2025. By 2027 alone, we will have 40 new models from our brands on the road, and more than half of them will be electric vehicles. Intelligent cars, fully connected, equipped with highly automated driving systems, also developed in-house. Top-quality products, it's what they are. State-of-the-art technology at competitive costs and prices. At the Shanghai Motor Show, we've received overwhelming feedback for our new Volkswagen Aura, Era, and Evo models. We expect that by 2025, the market will be challenging, the competitive pressure will remain high. From 2026, we also plan to unleash our full potential with our new product push.
By the end of the decade, we want to be a leader in intelligent connected vehicles in China. Precisely thanks to our strong position in the internal combustion engine business, we continue to operate efficiently there. It is also the foundation for significant investments in new models and technologies going forward. North America remains a key element for the Volkswagen Group's growth strategy and for a well-balanced regional business model in markets around the world. We are clearly setting a signal for further growth. In the past years, we have invested around $14 billion in production and strategic partnerships. An increase of more than 6% of car deliveries in North America in 2025 proves us right. We see significant potential in that region despite the current trade policy challenges we're seeing now.
Just as for China, we are formulating a vision for North America with a clear plan of action and accountability and responsibility. We want to grow in the region. We want to offer products that consistently meet the expectations of American consumers. The revival of the Scout heritage brand allows us to enter an attractive pickup and robust SUV business in the U.S. In 2024, Scout Motors introduced two vehicle models, and now we have received around 100,000 reservations for those. There is a common thread in everything I said. It is about sustainability, the foundation of our activities. In 2024, in our group, we launched a sustainability strategy called Regenerate Plus, which is a binding framework for everything we do. The Volkswagen Group has a responsibility to shape sustainability for future generations. Between 2018 and 2024, we have been able to reduce emissions from production and logistics by around 51%.
We have reduced the environmental impact per each vehicle by 48% since 2010. We are now working on the development of a circular economy strategy along the entire automotive value chain. One example for that is our battery recycling plant in Salzgitter. Ladies and gentlemen, the Volkswagen Group has laid the foundations to lead this unique company into a successful future, with determination and a clear strategy and plan to put it into practice. The progress of realignment and restructuring is already visible in technologies, in software, in design quality, and in new products in our regions of China and North America, in terms of our structures and processes, in costs and investment improvements. At the same time, we are surrounded by massive external risks. Not only that, we still have our own homework to do.
is certainly significant need and urge for action to strengthen the group's resilience in all our cost categories: development, materials, production, sales, all the way to fixed costs. We know what needs to be done. We will remain focused and determined in the execution of our plan. The coming years will determine who will play a role in the new automotive world of the future. It is just like in sports. If you want to win, if you want to be passionate and give all you possibly can, you will win in the end. We have made up our minds. We want to be among the winners together with you. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Dr. Blume. Ladies and gentlemen, at this point, I would like to say goodbye to those of you who followed the public broadcast of the general meeting.
Thank you very much for your interest in Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.