BERLIN, (Reuters) – Volkswagen (ETR:), a carmaker, announced Thursday that it plans to make 800,000 electric vehicles in the global market this year and 1.3million by 2023. The company is working towards making 50% of its worldwide output entirely-electric by 2030.

It remains optimistic it will meet European emissions targets, despite difficult circumstances in car production, Hildegard Wortmann, the company’s sales chief, said. Electric cars sales have been increasing even when total deliveries are falling.

Herbert Diess, chief executive, said that he believed the time was right to launch an initial public offering of Porsche sports carmaker Porsche. This is expected to take place in the fourth quarter.