Volkswagen Group has stated that its operations in China are ‘showing clear signs of business recovery’. All 2,000 Volkswagen brand dealerships are now open again, and VW says that the showroom traffic during the last weekend of March is comparable to the same period last year. Over 95% of the dealerships of the other locally producing brands Audi and Škoda have also reopened. The SAIC Volkswagen joint venture plant in Changsha also resumed operations this week. The total number of Group facilities that have resumed operations has thus risen to 32 of the 33 car and component plants.
“Our dealerships are seeing customers on the showroom floors once again. There are growing signs of recovery, with a good chance that the Chinese car market could reach last year’s level in early summer. For Volkswagen, many highlights are still to come in 2020. This year, MEB production will begin and the Volkswagen ID. family will debut in China,” Volkswagen Group China CEO Stephan Wöllenstein said.
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The press statement continues: Volkswagen Group China will reach major milestones in its electrification strategy for the Chinese market in the second half of the year. Two plants will begin local production of all-electric models based on Volkswagen’s modular electric drive toolkit (MEB).
The sites in Anting and Foshan will have a combined capacity of 600,000 units per year. Following the start of this production, Volkswagen ID. models – a family of fully-electric, fully-connected Volkswagen cars – will then debut in China. Additionally, the local production of Audi’s e-Tron will get underway in Changchun at the end of the year.