Automotive News Europe — 2022-12-02
Automotive Industry
Volkswagen will follow Tesla, BMW and other automakers in exporting electric vehicles from China to Europe, citing limited production capacity in its home market.
VW's sporty Spanish brand Cupra will produce its first full-electric SUV, the Tavascan, at one of its joint ventures’ factories in Anhui, VW said.
Built on the same MEB platform as the VW ID series, the compact Tavascan is due to go on sale in Europe in 2024. It is Cupra's second model based on the MEB platform after the Born hatchback.
"The Anhui factory was the plant with the right capacity and technology at the time of production planning," VW said said in a statement Friday, adding it has no plans to produce other vehicles in China for export.
VW is working on its five-year financial plan to decide which new models will be built in which factories and how much money to invest in those locations by the middle of the decade. Those decisions hinge on the launch of software platforms for upcoming electric models that the company has repeatedly had to delay.
Electric models already being shipped from Chinese factories to European showrooms include Tesla’s Model 3, BMW’s iX3 and Renault’s Dacia Spring.
PwC recently predicted automakers will sell 800,000 cars imported into Europe from China.