VW electric cars will soon be as cheap to build as its petrol ones

Cost parity between electric and combustion manufacturing has been the industry's structural problem for years, and VW putting a timeline on closing that gap — while openly acknowledging SSP delays — is a significant admission of where the business actually stands. Blume isn't claiming the platform is fixed; he's signalling that the cost equation is being attacked from a different angle, which suggests the group is managing expectations as much as announcing progress. For anyone watching VW's EV transition, the detail worth holding onto is that the SSP delay hasn't been papered over — the cost-cutting work is happening around it. That kind of transparency from a CEO is either a sign of genuine strategic confidence or careful expectation management ahead of harder news.