Volkswagen is preparing entry-level electric cars for the Chinese market

The German brand is preparing four inexpensive, completely “green” new products. Their cost on the local market will vary from 140 to 170 thousand yuan (equivalent to approximately 1.75 — 2.13 million rubles at the current exchange rate).

The Volkswagen brand has prepared a plan to strengthen its position in China automobile market. The head of the “heavenly” division of the company, Ralf Brandstetter, spoke about this. The recently opened Volkswagen Group China Technology Company (VCTC) electric vehicle development center in Hefei will help achieve this goal; it is known that investments in this center amounted to about $1.1 billion.

In the photo: In the photo: Volkswagen ID.4 X, produced by the SAIC-VW joint venture

As Reuters reports, citing the head of VW's local division, the company will develop a new platform that will form the basis for affordable electric vehicles intended for the Chinese market. It is known that the “cart”, the name of which is still kept secret (the working title is “A Main Platform”), will be created largely based on local components.

By increasing the number of Chinese components, VW intends to reduce the cost of producing new products on this platform. It is expected that their production will be cheaper compared to current models produced for the Chinese market based on the MEB “trolley” — we are talking about the Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.6 and ID.7.

In the photo: Volkswagen ID.6 Crozz Prime, produced by the FAW-VW joint venture

As the speaker noted, a new platform for electric trains intended for the Chinese market will be created in 2026. He noted that the expected development period was reduced by about a third, due to the work of the previously launched VCTC center.

According to the agency, Volkswagen’s plan includes the presentation of four new models, which will be based on announced platform. It is reported that VW intends to establish their production at current joint ventures with SAIC and FAW, whose assembly lines are now rolling off MEB-based models.

As we have already noted, affordable models, more precisely entry-level electric vehicles, will be created on the new platform. Their cost on the Chinese market will vary from 140 to 170 thousand yuan, which is equivalent to approximately 1.75 — 2.13 million rubles at the current exchange rate.

Pictured: Volkswagen ID.7 (for the Chinese market)

Volkswagen is also going to release two all-electric models in the future, which will be developed in partnership with XPeng. It is expected that mass production of these new products will start in 2026.

Note that the company did not decide out of nowhere that there is a need to strengthen VW’s position in China. The fact is that Volkswagen is no longer the best-selling brand in the Chinese market: at the end of 2022, the local brand BYD took the place of the leader. The reason for this was, among other things, that sales of electric vehicles are growing more slowly than expected. By the way, this applies not only to China: last summer it became known that Volkswagen had to temporarily shut down factories due to weak demand for “green” models.