Volkswagen, 44 models to defend market share in China

“Today the price is falling faster than the cost development, we expect that in the next few years, especially the next two, this price war will continue,” Brandstaetter said. In this context, profit will only be put under pressure. Foreign automakers have been caught off guard in China by the rise of electric vehicles that have become popular in the market over the past three years. This has left manufacturers like Volkswagen scrambling to create models tailored to Chinese tastes.

Brandstaetter cited investments in a new Chinese research center and partnerships with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. These include high-tech companies such as Horizon Robots (self-driving), ThunderSoft (news) e Ark (design and innovation for user experience). “We want to be the first OEM (original equipment manufactureri.e. global car manufacturer, ed.) in China in 2030, with a market share of 15%”, he announced. This goal will be equivalent to sales of approximately 4 million passenger cars per year in China by 2030, from 3.07 million The German group also aims to achieve a corresponding operating profit of more than 2 billion euros in 2027 and around 3 billion by 2030, compared to 2.6 last year.

Volkswagen has handed over the title of the country’s best-selling car brand to the Chinese electric car giant. BYD, at the end of 2022, and the group’s market share in 2023 fell to 14.5% from 19.3% in 2020, due to the decline in sales of vehicles with combustion engines. By the end of 2023, battery-powered vehicles (BEV) accounted for a quarter of registrations (they were only 6.3% in 2020) and hybrids reached 37%. Equality or near-equilibrium should be reached by 2027. This can only scare a manufacturer like Volkswagen which in China, its main market, sells three million cars, but has not won the hearts and minds of Chinese consumers with its electric cars. In January 2024, for example, the German group regained first place in the overall list (10.29% market share) ahead of BYD, but in clean electricity it was sixth with a share of 4.21%.

Among the historic foreign automakers, VW is engaged in a fierce struggle to remain competitive against competitors such as BYD and Tesla, the first and second in terms of sales of electric vehicles (BYD is also considering hybrids). supplement), and has undoubtedly been drawn into a price war that began last year and has since involved more than 40 brands.

It got to the point that the Volkswagen ID.3 is one of the best-selling electric cars in China after the automaker reduced the price by around 5 thousand euros. Today the price list starts around 21 thousand euros. OK ID.3 in Europe cost starting from around 40 thousand euros.