VW Confirms Plan to Add 10 SUV Models in China

Volkswagen AG confirms it intends to introduce 10 new locally produced SUV/crossover models in China by 2020.

VW China CEO Jochem Heizmann announced the plan ahead of the Guangzhou auto show, Bloomberg News reports. He told reporters in April that the company was mulling a scheme to create a family of budget-priced MPV and SUV/crossover models specifically for the Chinese market.

Heizmann says VW sales in the country have been hampered by production capacity constraints and a lack of SUVs, the market’s most popular configuration. He reiterates that VW also is preparing to add 15 domestically produced “new energy” models within the next five years to meet China’s renewed push for hybrid and electric vehicles.

VW had said it will expand annual capacity in China to 5 million units by 2019 from 3.5 million last year. But the company also is readying fiscal cuts to help pay for multi-billion-euro expenses related to fixing more than 11 million vehicles that cheated on government emission tests.

So far its China expansion plan has not been affected by the budget reductions. But Heizmann did say VW will delay by 2-3 years its goal of increasing its stake in its carmaking joint venture with China FAW Group Corp.