VW will stop designing cars with gas, diesel engines after 2026

After 2026, VW will shift to an all-electric strategy.

With most world governments enacting tougher and tougher emissions regulations, it's no secret that the internal combustion engine has one foot in the grave. But Volkswagen has taken things a step further by etching a death date on the technology's tombstone -- 2026.

To be fair, gas- and diesel-powered vehicles won't disappear from VW's lineup in 2026, but that's when the company will begin phasing them out. VW is planning to release its next-generation vehicle architecture in 2026, which will be the company's last specifically designed for gas and diesel engines. After that, VW plans to design only electrified vehicles.

"Our colleagues are working on the last platform for vehicles that aren't CO2 neutral,” Michael Jost, strategy chief for Volkswagen's namesake brand, said, according to Bloomberg. "We're gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum.”

It'll take some time for the internal combustion engine to disappear entirely, however. VW expects to be almost entirely electric by 2050, with the company only producing a very small number of gas and diesel vehicles for regions where electric infrastructure is lacking.

In the near-term the VW Group is planning to launch a handful of EVs, including the Porsche Taycan and the Audi e-tron SUV.