SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Germany’s Volkswagen AG said on Tuesday it plans to introduce 10 more electric vehicle (EV) models by 2026 and it remained committed to China, where established foreign brands are losing ground to nimble local rivals.
“As VW, we remain firmly committed to China … Our guiding principle is development in China, for China at full speed,” Thomas Schafer, chief executive of VW Passenger Cars, said on Tuesday, speaking at the Shanghai auto show.
Volkswagen, the top-selling passenger vehicle brand in China for decades, is among the legacy foreign auto brands seeing their shares of the world’s biggest auto market shrink as they lag Chinese peers in launching electric cars. For 2022, Volkswagen saw sales fall by 3.6% to 3.18 million vehicles.
In February, Chinese EV maker BYD outsold Volkswagen-branded cars, becoming the best-selling passenger car brand in China for the second month in four.
Unveiling the upper-end ID.7 EV model on Tuesday, Schafer said Volkswagen plans to introduce 10 more EV models by 2026.
Volkswagen said earlier this year it aims to speed up its time to market for new models from four years to closer to the 2.5-year average for its Chinese counterparts, in part by localising research and development for Chinese models even further.
Schafer said the company is investing heavily with its Chinese joint venture partners in design, production as well as research and development, adding it has up to 2,000 developers in its R&D hub in Anhui province.
(Reporting by Josh Horwitz and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
