Advertisement
Electric & new energy vehicles
BusinessChina Business

Volkswagen aims to launch 30 EVs in China in next 6 years as shift to green motoring erodes German giant’s market share

  • Surging popularity of EVs has heaped pressure on conventional carmakers to get on board with the shift to environmentally friendly motoring
  • VW’s share of the Chinese vehicle market slipped to 14.2 per cent in 2023, down 0.6 percentage points, according to the China Passenger Car Association

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Batteries for Volkswagen electric vehicles on display at an exhibition in Hefei, China, last month. Photo: Bloomberg
Daniel Renin Shanghai
Volkswagen Group, which saw its market share shrink in China last year, said it plans to launch 30 new electric cars on the mainland by 2030 as it vies to keep up with the rapid pace of electrification in the world’s largest vehicle market.
Advertisement

Ralf Brandsatter, VW’s China chief executive, told reporters at a media briefing on Monday that the German carmaker is targeting 4 million deliveries annually to mainland customers by 2030, which could account for about 15 per cent of the overall market.

Volkswagen has been a perennial market leader in China’s automotive industry since it established a Shanghai-based joint venture in 1984, delivering 3.2 million cars – the vast majority petrol-powered – on the mainland last year, up 1.6 per cent from 2022.

It narrowly beat Shenzhen-based BYD, the world’s bestselling EV builder, which handed nearly 3 million battery-powered cars to Chinese buyers last year.

03:11

Cheap EV alternative to Tesla and BYD takes off in small-town China

Cheap EV alternative to Tesla and BYD takes off in small-town China

“We want to remain the No 1 international OEM [original equipment manufacturer],” he said. “In China, we want to be on par in cost and tech with local players with a profitable and healthy business model.”

Advertisement
Advertisement