Volkswagen brand, seeking to expand its foothold in China’s battery-electric vehicle market, plans to produce its first ID-series EV, the ID3 crossover, locally at the end of 2020.
The ID3 crossover will be built at SAIC Volkswagen’s newly built EV plant in Shanghai, VW Group said at a marketing event last week in the south China city of Guangzhou.
SAIC VW is VW Group’s joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp.
The ID3 hatchback will also be assembled at SAIC-VW, according to VW Group.
By 2023, VW brand will market ten ID models developed on MEB, the platform dedicated to its new-generation EVs, the German group said.
Additional details about the brand’s plans for the ID-series in China have not been released.
While preparing to introduce the ID-series EVs in China, VW brand will roll out more electrified vehicles adapted from gasoline models.
The brand sells five electrified models in China -- battery versions of the Lavida, Golf and Bora sedans, and plug-in hybrid variants of the Passat sedan and Tiguan crossover.
By the end of 2020, VW brand plans to launch another five electrified models adapted from gasoline models.
In 2020, annual deliveries of the brand’s electrified models in China will reach 300,000. The number will increase to one million by 2025, according to VW Group.
VW is the largest car brand in China. In the first three quarters, the brand delivered nearly 2.2 million vehicles, a drop of 2.1 percent from a year earlier, the German group said last month, without disclosing separate sales for the brand’s electrified models.