Tag Archives: Volkswagen

News

Volkswagen ID.7 Vizzion is 57.4% cheaper in China than in EU

The new electric sedan Volkswagen ID.7 Vizzion is coming to the Chinese market, and the most attention is attracted by the price of the car, which is 57.4 percent cheaper than in Germany. Why is this so, whether and in what way the Chinese authorities help manufacturers to be more competitive on the market?

The Chinese authorities subsidize domestic car manufacturers in various ways, through loans from state-owned banks, capital reserves from state investment funds or lower electricity fees. A few years ago, the Chinese government gave about one billion euros to Nio to save it from bankruptcy. However, it was not just financial support, because with that money the government bought a 24 percent stake in the company. After that, there was another financial injection from an unnamed state banking house in the amount of 1.5 billion euros. Now the government is helping Nio with 32,000 euros per car.

In order to be more competitive in China, VW reduced car prices last month, which turned out to be good, when it comes to sales. However, growth was achieved primarily through the sale of low-cost cars such as the Lavida sedan (13,345 euros), putting VW in second place with 1.56 million vehicles sold. BYD was first with 1.79 million vehicles sold, and Toyota was third with 1.24 million cars.

What may worry VW and its Chinese partners is the problem of low demand for their battery vehicles, as the company is sold 92,332 units. Compared to the biggest competitor, BYD (893,754 vehicles), the problem seems even bigger. Also, Tesla managed to sell five times more electric vehicles (433,729).

Another reason why cars made in China are cheaper compared to the rest of the world is cheap labor. A manufacturing worker there earns about a third of what an American or European auto worker earns annually. Also, Reuters recently wrote about an unnamed employee of the Changan Automobile Factory in Che-fei, who experienced a reduction in income and left his job in July, because his salary in May and June was only four thousand yuan a month (about 512 euros ), instead of 900 euros as he expected.

How the rest of the world, primarily Europe and the USA, will react to the increasing pressure that Chinese manufacturers are putting on the global market remains to be seen.

Source: VW, Reuters, NYT

Gallery:

Volkswagen ID.7 Vizzion is 57.4% cheaper in China than in EU
News

VW Up! will no longer be produced

At the 2011 International Motor Show Germany Volkswagen presented the city car VW Up!, and two years later the electric version, VW E-Up!, arrived on the market. It was offered as a 3-door and 5-door hatchback, and 12 years later, VW announced that the small city car had come to an end.

The car was produced in the plants in Bratislava (Slovakia), where they are already ready for the production of the new Passat station wagon. Only already produced versions remain in the offer for potential customers.

After the cessation of production of the Citigo (Skoda) and Mii (Seat) models, Volkswagen was left without a car in the A segment. However, the company has already announced that by the end of the decade it will offer a similar electric model, the ID.1, which will be a cheaper alternative to the previously announced ID.2 model.

Currently in the Volkswagen offer, the Polo is the smallest but also the most affordable model in the offer for European markets. There’s also the Up GTI, premiered in 2016, powered by a 1.0-liter three-cylinder TSI petrol engine with 113 hp (85 kW), which is enough to push the small city car to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8 .8 seconds with a top speed of 196 km/h (122 mph).

Source: Volkswagen

Gallery:

VW Up! will no longer be produced
News

VW Trinity EV is coming soon

Although the latest information about layoffs in Zwickau caused by reduced demand for the German brand’s electric cars points to a mild crisis at VW, the German automaker is not whining but announcing the return of the Trinity EV project.

VW Trinity is currently the most significant project of the company and the best hope in the fight against Tesla’s dominance in the EV market. It will be built on the SSP platform, which VW says will enable Level 4 autonomy (full autonomy). Its arrival on the market was planned for 2026, but at one point the whole project was cancelled. However, with the arrival of VW Group CEO Oliver Blume, the project was revived. The plan was to build a new factory to produce this car, but the company decided that there was no need for a new factory.

A VW spokesman said that models based on the SSP platform will be launched at the end of this decade.

The Supervisory Board of the VW Group approved on Friday the management’s plans on the distribution of development and production of vehicles for the VW brand until 2028. The Wolfsburg plant will produce the electric version of the Golf based on the modern SSP architecture, but also the electric Tiguan starting in 2026 and the successor to the Tiguan Allspace from 2025.

Expected strong demand for the Golf EV supports the argument to maintain high levels of expertise and staff numbers, as the union-backed job security package expires in 2029.

Source: VW