Volkswagen Confirms EV Plans For China

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Back home in Germany, Volkswagen is dragging its heels when it comes to EVs, in China, VW is all for the electrification. Both of Volkswagen’s joint ventures in China plan to start making electric cars in 2014, its China chief told Reuters today.

According to the plan, Volkswagen’s joint ventures with China’s FAW and SAIC will develop their own EVs, start producing in 2014 and are expected to ramp up production to 100,000 by 2018. Volkswagen also will launch a plug-in hybrid in China in 2015, its China chief Karl-Thomas Neumann said at a convention in Beijing.

Neumann confirmed what you had known all along. In May of 2011, we reported about a “Kai Li” brand that had been registered by Volkswagen’s Chinese joint venture with FAW-VW with the listed purpose of “electric cars.” In September, an electric car called “Tantus” was found on the list of Volkswagen’s JV with SAIC.

The Chinese government has been pushing hard for electric vehicles. Despite generous subsidies, the program so far has been a dud.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Kevin L. Copple Kevin L. Copple on Feb 14, 2012

    I have a sixth floor apartment in Tianjin, China with an assigned parking place (and which has required only moderate yelling to hold on to). Maybe I'm just too lazy to figure it out, but it is not obvious how one would get electricity to an EV parked in spot 485. I imagine the separate metering would be the biggest obstacle. VW China has thought this through?

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