Volkswagen’s ID.7 will be launched in Europe and China in autumn 2023 and in North America in 2024.
Financial Channel | Evelyn Cheng
Beijing – German automaker Volkswagen It is investing about $1 billion in electric vehicle development in China and releasing a car aimed at the premium market.
The company announced this week at the Shanghai Auto Show that it will invest about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in an electric vehicle development and business center in Hefei — a city near Shanghai that has become an automotive hub and home to NIO China. Seats of offices and other offices.
Related investment news
German investment in China rose nearly 61 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday. Overall, foreign investment in China rose 4.9 percent year-on-year to 408.45 billion yuan ($59.33 billion) in the first three months of the year.
new business center
Volkswagen’s new business center will be run by a new company called “100% TechCo” and will open in 2024, employing more than 2,000 people, the automaker said in a release.
The CEO of the new entity will be Marcus Hafkemeyer, currently Volkswagen China’s chief technology officer, the release said.
The automaker claims that by involving local suppliers in the early stages of product development and integrating Volkswagen’s three joint ventures in China, 100% TechCo can reduce product and technology development time by about 30%.
new electric car
Volkswagen also held this week The world premiere of the new ID.7 sedanThe all-electric vehicle will launch in China and Europe this fall and in North America next year.
Vehicles for China will be produced locally, while those for Europe and North America will be built in Germany, Volkswagen said.
The German company did not disclose prices, but said the ID.7 was its first all-electric vehicle “for the upper middle class”.
China is the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Luxury car sales rose 17% year-on-year in March, outpacing a 0.3% rise in passenger car sales, according to the China Passenger Passenger Association.
According to a press release, the ID.7 has a range of up to 700 kilometers (435 miles) and includes technologies such as highway lane changes and parking assist.
The sedan also features an “augmented reality head-up display” – a technology that allows information about the road and the car to appear in front of the driver as a projection of the road ahead. Volkswagen first introduced the technology in its electric ID.3 and ID.4 models.
The company says the ID.7 will feature a panoramic sunroof whose transparency can be changed through touchscreen-like functions and voice commands.
