FRANKFURT: German auto giant Volkswagen said Tuesday it is aiming to dominate the electric car market by 2025 as it accelerates the pace to catch up with US pioneer Tesla.

Volkswagen sold 422,000 electrified vehicles in 2020. Of those, 230,000 were fully electric cars — or three times more than in 2019 — and the remainder petrol-electric hybrids.

It is now expecting to sell a million electrified vehicles this year, the group said in a statement.

“In 2025 at the latest, the group wants to be the world leader in the electric mobility market,” it added.

The car giant which owns 12 brands from Audi to Porsche to Seat will be investing 46 billion euros ($55 billion) in its electric switch over the next five years.

One in 10 cars sold in 2020 in Europe were electric ones after Volkswagen put its key model ID.3 on the market. That is five-fold jump from 1.9 percent in 2019.

VW expects electric cars to make up 60 percent of its car sales in Europe by 2030. One in two vehicles sold by the group globally would also be electric by then.

Nevertheless, it did not announce a date to end production of its more affordable combustion engine cars, as chief executive Herbert Diess expects the sale of these vehicles to contribute to “financing the transition” to greener options.

VW’s all-electric ID.3 became the second best-selling car in Europe last December, and the brand has US e-mobility pioneer Tesla in its sights with its 2021 ID.4 SUV model.

In 2035, “the majority of cars will have an electric engine and more than 40 percent will be moving autonomously,” he said.

Volkswagen said Monday it would set up six battery factories and significantly expand charging points in Europe, laying down the infrastructure as it plans to launch 27 electric models by 2022.