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Volkswagen begins to produce cars on a Chinese platform

The first such model will go on sale in 2026

Nov 13, 2024 10:48 184

Volkswagen begins to produce cars on a Chinese platform  - 1

Volkswagen will abandon its own MEB platform in China. The Volkswagen Anhui enterprise, three-quarters of which is owned by the Germans, will start producing electric cars based on the CEA (China Electrical Architecture) architecture developed jointly with China's XPeng.

According to company insiders, the reason for the switch to another platform is the weak sales of crossovers from the ID family. The first Volkswagen with the CEA platform will roll off the assembly line at the end of 2025 and go on sale in 2026.

Volkswagen planned to release several models on the MEB platform, but now these plans have apparently been revised: the next car of the European architecture, which was already in development, was postponed. Its place will be taken by a new product on a Chinese platform. In total, Volkswagen Anhui would launch four new products by 2026.

VW started sales of ID Unix cars in July, but since then only a few hundred copies have been sold - a poor result for the huge Chinese car market. The starting price is 209,900 yuan (27,300 euros). Volkswagen is trying to boost demand with promotions, including a 40,000 yuan (€5,000) discount for purchases before the end of the year.

The transition to the Chinese platform is expected to allow Volkswagen to significantly reduce prices, which should (according to the Germans) attract buyers. The estimated starting price of the car in CEA is 140-180 thousand yuan, or 18,200 - 23,400 euros.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen's new products are surprisingly affordable. The Multivan T7 minivan with a complex three-motor setup and all-wheel drive received a price of 70,670 euros. The "Californian camper", if you don't skimp on options, can easily cost more than 100 thousand euros.