Volkswagen offered 9 models of its all-electric sedan ID.7 in China final month, down 99.6% from 2,269 models in January 2024. The German automaker offered solely 4,552 electrical automobiles (EVs), down 71% from 15,828 in January 2024.
Its best-selling automobile was the ID.3 hatchback, which offered 2,623 models, down 65.5% from the identical month final yr. It was adopted by ID.4 X, which offered 1,020 models, down 70% from final yr, and ID.4 Crozz, which offered 889, down 59.3% from final yr.
Volkswagen manufactures the ID. sequence of electrical vehicles, with its two fundamental joint ventures being SAIC and FAW. For instance, ID.4 X and ID.4 Crozz are practically the identical automobile however made with completely different Chinese language companions.
The ID.7 Vizzion, which offered 9 models in China in January, is made with FAW. Final yr, the SAIC three way partnership unveiled ID.7 S, a barely larger model of ID.7, however gross sales by no means actually took off, foreseeing the way forward for ID.7 Vizzion.
VW ID.7 Vizzion began pre-sales in China in November 2023 and launched a month later, in December, for 227,777 yuan (31,400 USD) for an RWD model with a 642 km CLTC vary, 84.8 kWh battery pack, and single 150 kW e-motor.
After rounds of reductions, the ID.7 RWD now begins at 197,700 yuan (27,200 USD), and the AWD model with 230 kW and 472 Nm peak torque begins at 232,700 yuan (32,000 USD).
Editor’s remark
Volkswagen ID.7 Vizzion is a Tesla Mannequin 3 competitor that needed to compete in China’s most threatening market: the overcrowded 200,000 yuan (27,300 USD) sedan phase. The ID.7 needed to rival not simply Mannequin 3 but additionally a flood of latest electrical sedans from Chinese language EV startups and legacy automakers reminiscent of BYD Seal, Xpeng P7i, Nio ET5, Xiaomi SU7, Zeekr 007, IM L6, and dozens of others. Furthermore, SUVs are way more in style in China than sedans, and they’re outselling them at 1:3.
Nonetheless, the Wolfsburg-based legacy maker had an opportunity – the Chinese language love Volkswagen. Particularly for older consumers, it’s a synonym for German high quality. Youthful consumers have a tendency extra to the brand new native EV startups, however even they know that Das Auto could make a great automobile.
And that’s the issue. They know find out how to make a great automobile however don’t know find out how to make good EVs for China. From speaking with dozens of EV consumers, I can inform that younger consumers now not care about steering really feel, chassis, driving dynamics, construct high quality, and different stuff at which Volkswagen is finest. They need connectivity, OTA updates, watching a film within the automobile (many grownup folks in China dwell with their mother and father, and that is utilizing the automobile as a “second front room”), reference to smartphones and residential home equipment, slender bezels on screens, no lagging, good UX and truthful sufficient ADAS. And Volkswagen didn’t provide any of this on ID.7 and ID. sequence basically.
Nonetheless, I stay fairly optimistic about Volkswagen’s future in China. The corporate signaled they weren’t prepared to depart the biggest automaker on the earth. It doubled down on China, asserting heavy funding, and an “In China, for China” technique that fixed the product improvement cycle by partnering with or buying native startups and automakers. We are going to know extra when the primary Volkswagen EVs based mostly on the Xpeng platform or Audi’s based mostly on SAIC’s IM platform will launch. We are going to regulate that.
