How Volkswagen is adapting aftersales logistics for EVs and ageing vehicles
Volkswagen Group of America’s Anu Goel discusses the pressures reshaping service-parts and finished vehicle logistics, from tariffs and rising costs to electrification, ageing vehicles and the need for greater supply chain flexibility.
Cost pressure and supply chain uncertainty are forcing automotive logistics and aftersales leaders to reconsider the balance between efficiency, service and resilience.
Speaking on the Automotive Logistics and Supply Chain Red Sofa at ALSC Global 2026, Anu Goel, executive vice-president, group service and after sales at Volkswagen Group of America, explains how the carmaker is responding to a rapidly changing operating environment.
For Volkswagen and Audi in the US, tariffs, regulation and wider cost pressures are putting renewed emphasis on logistics efficiency. But Goel says reducing cost cannot come at the expense of service levels.
The challenge is also prompting a reassessment of a longstanding logistics principle: avoiding redundancy. Building additional resilience into a network inevitably creates cost, but Goel argues companies increasingly need to weigh that expense against the potentially much greater cost of disruption.
Aftersales logistics is simultaneously becoming more complex. Battery-electric vehicles and hybrids are adding new components and part numbers to service-parts networks, creating pressure on warehouse capacity. That makes improved forecasting, inventory optimisation and reducing obsolete stock increasingly important.
At the other end of the vehicle lifecycle, cars are remaining on the road for longer, creating another challenge, and opportunity, for OEM aftersales operations.
Goel explains how Volkswagen Group of America is looking at expanding its parts offering and working with dealers to provide more cost-effective repairs for older vehicles. Although that creates further complexity and additional part numbers, he sees the potential to turn an underserved segment into a growing business.
The interview also explores the advantages of sharing logistics infrastructure across brands. Greater volume can create efficiencies and extend the reach of service-parts networks, but those efficiencies have to be balanced against the different service expectations of individual brands and their customers.
Drawing on his experience at Ford, CNH and Volkswagen Group, Goel also discusses the importance of segmenting logistics according to customer need rather than applying the same service level to every component.
Watch the full Red Sofa interview with Anu Goel from ALSC Global 2026.
