Goals and Key Performance Indicators of the Group’s strategy

The strategic initiatives describe how we intend to achieve our vision of being one of the world’s leading providers of sustainable mobility. For this purpose, we have defined four target dimensions – excited customers, excellent employer, role model for the environment, safety and integrity, and competitive profitability – which are designed to help us grow sustainably.

Although these target dimensions apply throughout the Group, the strategic KPIs that we will use in the future to measure how well we have implemented our Group strategy, depend on the business model. After all, the business model for our passenger car-producing brands is different from that for trucks and buses and also from that of our Power Engineering Business Area and our services business.

In the following, we describe the Group’s strategic goals attached to these target dimensions.

The strategic KPIs of the competitive profitability target dimension have been defined and anchored uniformly in the Group. As the new Group strategy has yet to be specified in detail, the content of some strategic KPIs in the other target dimensions is still being determined. We report on the already defined nonfinancial strategic KPIs in the “Corporate Governance Report” and “Sustainable Value Enhancement” sections.

Target dimension: excited customers

This target dimension focuses on the diverse needs of our customers and on tailor-made mobility solutions. We aspire to exceed our customers’ expectations, generating maximum benefit for them. That calls not only for the best products, the most efficient solutions and the best service, but also for flawless quality and an outstanding image. We want to excite our existing customers, win over new ones and retain their loyalty in the long term – because only loyal and faithful customers will recommend us to others.

The strategic KPIs consist of the net promoter score, the conquest rate and KPIs pertaining to loyalty, customer satisfaction and quality.

Target dimension: excellent employer

Skilled and dedicated employees are one of the keys to sustainable success. We wish to promote their satisfaction and motivation by means of equal opportunities, an attractive and modern working environment, and a forward-looking organization of work. Exemplary leadership and corporate culture forms the foundation for this, enabling us to retain our core workforce and attract new talent.

The strategic KPIs of this target dimension cover internal employer attractiveness determined by means of the opinion survey, external employer attractiveness, an external employer ranking as well as a KPI pertaining to cross-brand exchange and rotation and the diversity index.

Target dimension: role model for the environment, safety and integrity

Every day, we at the Volkswagen Group assume and exercise responsibility in relation to the environment, safety and society. This is reflected in our thoughts and actions and in all our decisions in equal measure.

We pay particular attention to the use of resources and the emissions of our product portfolio as well as those of our sites and plants, with the goal of continuously improving our carbon footprint and lowering pollutant emissions. Through our innovations and outstanding quality, we aim for maximum product safety. The most important principles in this process include compliance with laws and regulations, the establishment of secure processes, and dealing openly with mistakes so that they can be avoided or rectified in the future. In terms of integrity, Volkswagen aims to become a role model for a modern, transparent and successful enterprise.

The strategic KPIs of this target dimension include the decarbonization index and KPIs pertaining to emissions figures, compliance, process reliability and a culture of dealing openly with mistakes.

Target dimension: competitive profitability

Investors judge us by whether we are able to meet our obligations as regards interest payments and debt repayments. As equity holders, they expect appropriate dividends and a long-term increase in the value of their shares.

We make investments with a view to achieving profitable growth and strengthening our competitiveness, thus keeping the Volkswagen Group on a firm footing and ensuring it remains an attractive investment option.

The goals we have set ourselves are operational excellence in all business processes and becoming the benchmark for the entire industry.

The strategic KPIs are operationalized for internal management purposes: target and actual data are derived from Volkswagen Group figures.

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STRATEGIC KPIS: COMPETITIVE PROFITABILITY

 

 

2015

 

2025

1

2015 before special items.

 

 

 

 

 

Operating return on sales1

 

6.0%

 

7 to 8%

Research and development ratio (R&D ratio) in the Automotive Division

 

7.4%

 

~6%

Capex/sales revenue in the Automotive Division

 

6.9%

 

~6%

Net cash flow in the Automotive Division

 

€8,887 million

 

Positive, to allow a distribution ratio of 30%

Net liquidity in the Automotive Division

 

€24,522 million, 11.5%

 

~10% of consolidated sales revenue

Return on investment (ROI) in the Automotive Division

 

−0.2%

 

>15%