Volkswagen Weighs Adding China-Developed EVs to Its European Range

Volkswagen is considering bringing some of its China-only electric models to Europe, and says any such cars would be added to its range rather than swapped in for current ones.

The vehicles were developed "in China for China" on an architecture built for that market. Volkswagen has said before that some could be sold in Europe, and possibly built there. Speaking at the Paris motor show, Volkswagen boss Thomas Schäfer put the emphasis on cost. Over the past two years, he said, the company has cut material and engineering costs and rethought the cars with partners in both Europe and China, so they can compete in the Chinese market on price.

Schäfer said the group has not yet used that work for exports or technology transfer. It has begun shipping vehicles to markets such as Australia and the Middle East, where access from China is easier than from Europe. Looking ahead, he told Autocar: "We're getting ready for bringing one or more vehicles in from China." Some Chinese-built models would never be engineered for Europe because they are too large, he said, pointing to the ID Era, a 5.2-metre SUV. Selected imports, he added, would be a way to test how the approach works, and they would not replace anything already on sale.

Two candidates stand out. The ID Unyx 09, an electric saloon co-developed with Volkswagen's Chinese partner Xpeng, is one. The other is the ID Aura T6, a 4.8-metre SUV that could sit above the smaller ID Tiguan and compete with the Volvo EX60.

Volkswagen has not confirmed which models will come, when they would arrive, or how they would be priced. For European buyers, the appeal would be electric cars developed with Chinese cost discipline, though whether that carries over to European specification, safety rules and pricing remains to be seen.