Volkswagen plans to construct a completely electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) for China from 2021, competing with the Chinese market leader Tesla’s Model X as the German automaker ramps up production of zero-emissions vehicles.
The planned new SUV is the recent move in Volkswagen’s aggressive growth strategy in China, where electric cars are provided preferential treatment by officials.
VW stated its ID ROOMZZ, which it presented in Shanghai on Sunday, are going to have three rows of seats and an operating range of up to 450 kms. The concept car is able of a “level 4 autonomous driving”, VW stated.
VW Chief Executive Herbert Diess stated the ID ROOMZ will be the flagship electric vehicle to be released by Volkswagen in China.
“We plan to produce over 22 million electric cars in the next 10 years,” Diess said, adding that about half of VW’s engineers were working on products destined for the country.
Diess stated the ID ROOMZ would eventually be presented to other markets.
To improve the VW Group’s research and development capabilities, Volkswagen and its premium brand Audi will put their R&D operations together in China.
VW brand’s head of e-mobility Thomas Ulbrich stated the automaker will start increasing the production of 33 electric cars by mid-2023, using VW Group’s modular electric car (MEB) platform to construct electric cars for the Skoda, Seat, Audi and VW brands.
Ulbrich stated VW Group is converting 16 factories globally to allow mass production of electric vehicles, of which eight plants will be working on VW branded cars.
