They will be built on a new platform
Volkswagen has confirmed a plan to strengthen its position in China with an all-new platform for affordable electric vehicles. The platform will be based on local components.
This news was announced by the head of the Chinese office of Volkswagen, Ralf Brandstätter, during the opening of a new development and procurement center for electric vehicles – Volkswagen Group China Technology Company (VCTC) in Hefei. The approximately $1.1 billion investment in VCTC is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs.
According to Reuters, Volkswagen will develop a new entry-level platform aimed at China, currently known as the “Core Platform”. The focus is on reducing costs, partly through the use of an even higher ratio of local components than is the case with current production of MEB-based models in China (ID. 3, ID. 4, ID. 6 and ID. 7).
Volkswagen announced the release of cheap electric vehicles with a starting price below $20,000
The new platform will be built on the Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) and is expected to be ready in 2026. Ralf Brandstätter explained that the Chinese electric vehicle market is very “price sensitive,” which requires cost optimization. Volkswagen is no longer the best-selling brand in China (BYD overtook VW at the end of 2022), mainly due to declining sales of gasoline vehicles (EVs make up a small portion of the brand’s volume and grew slower than expected).
The reduction in prices for the Volkswagen ID.3 model in China has already allowed VW to increase sales volume from an average of 2,200 units per month to approximately 10,000 per month (July-October). The new platform is aimed at the entry-level segment with a price range of $19,570 to $23,760.
The plan is to introduce four models based on the new platform and produce them in existing joint ventures with SAIC and FAW, which also produce MEB-based models.
In addition, starting in 2026, Volkswagen hopes to release two more all-electric models developed in collaboration with XPeng. There will be six new models in total.
Before that, Volkswagen is expected to launch 10 new all-electric vehicles worldwide by 2026, and will also increase the speed at which it launches new vehicles.
