BEIJING -- Volkswagen Group's Spanish brand, Seat, is returning to China through a back door after playing a leading role developing the E20X electric crossover marketed under a new brand called Sol.
The E20X, to arrive in showrooms in the second half of this year, will be the first car built by Volkswagen's new joint venture with domestic automaker Jianghuai Automobile Co. It is based on JAC's S7 crossover.
VW Group's China chief, Jochem Heizmann, said Seat supported the E20X's development. "If you look a bit more precisely at this car and its design, there are lots of Seat genes," he said last month at the auto show here.
Heizmann said there will be more Sol-badged cars but gave no more details. "We are planning for sure in a joint venture not only this one car, but we are working together and looking at what will come after that, of course," he said.
Heizmann said the E20X, which has yet to be priced, will have an electric range of more than 300 km (186 miles) under Europe's test cycle. It will help VW reach its mandatory targets in China for so-called new-energy vehicles, or NEVs, under a system implemented to transition the country's fleet to zero-emission cars.
Each legally independent company that sells cars in China needs to meet a minimum threshold starting next year. For every 10 vehicles sold, an automaker must earn a single NEV credit in 2019. Selling one E20X would earn it four credits.
Heizmann said Seat was a natural fit for Sol's target group. "The advantage of Seat is it has the youngest customers by far and a really innovative design that fits very well to China," he said.
Asked whether Seat might return fully, he replied: "Let's see what is possible with Seat."
Seat had initially tried to use its own brand but was denied by the Chinese authorities, which insisted on a new local brand. The two eventually settled on the Spanish-sounding Sol name.
"It's an indirect way of entering the Chinese market," Seat brand chief Luca de Meo told Automotive News Europe on the sidelines of the Beijing show.
Seat's sibling brand Skoda began selling locally built cars in China in 2005. Since then, China has become Skoda's largest market. Seat briefly shipped a small number of cars from Europe for sale in China before pulling out by 2015.
