Skip advert
Advertisement

Volkswagen's budget brand set for China

VW company bosses confirm new Dacia-style range due in 2019, with target price of less than £8,100

Volkwagen logo

Volkswagen’s on-off budget brand will launch in China in 2019, company bosses have confirmed to Auto Express.

Finally fast-tracked after years of being moved around Volkswagen’s priority list, the still-unnamed brand will make its debut with a small saloon and a mid-sized SUV, but will only be sold in China in its initial stages.

Advertisement - Article continues below

The aim is for the new marque to add to Volkswagen’s 2.99 million 2016 sales in China, and after a settling-in period there target Mexico, Brazil and even India. While Volkswagen insists it has no plans for the brand outside emerging markets, that’s also what Renault said about Dacia, its budget offering, during its early years.

A senior Volkswagen official has also confirmed that the brand, which has set Great Wall’s Haval brand as a Chinese sales and quality benchmark, is aiming for a price of less than 70,000 RMB (£8,100).

It will be built in partnership with VW’s Chinese joint-venture partner, FAW, using the PQ chassis architecture of the old Golf Mk6, production of which ended in 2013.

“The budget car is still under development. Even more right now,” Volkswagen development boss Dr Frank Welsch confirmed. “Two years ago the car you heard about was a sedan.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement - Article continues below

“We changed this strategy early last year, because in China the market research was quite easy to see that when we need a budget car, we also need a budget SUV.

“If we had added one SUV, then it’s quite easy to have two versions of that if we change the wheelbase and add a third seating row,” Dr Welsch added. “We have to keep in mind that the economy segment will be a strong segment not only in China.”

While the Volkswagen Group’s MQB architecture is becoming ubiquitous for small to medium-sized SEATs, Skodas, Audis and VWs, it plans to follow Renault’s Dacia strategy of using superseded underpinnings to keep costs low.

Volkswagen is working to deliver the initial two-model range using the PQ architecture, proving the brand will be based on a front-wheel-drive strategy. The SUV would feature a hang-on all-wheel-drive system. “It won’t be off MQB,” Dr Welsch admitted. “The brand will use some MQB components, but not the MQB architecture. If you compare this to Dacia and what it is doing, that’s more like it.”

The VW Group’s Chinese operation has also been immune from any Dieselgate emissions-cheating fallout, because the Chinese don’t tend to buy diesel passenger vehicles, and the new budget brand will be petrol-powered. “In certain parts of the world, we will need such economy cars, and in China 40 per cent already is with economy cars,” Welsch told us.

Would you be interested in VW's budget brand if it came to the UK? Let us know below...

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Recommended

Volkswagen ID.Every1 concept: entry-level ID.1 EV will ‘still feel like a Volkswagen’
Volkswagen ID.Every1 concept - front action

Volkswagen ID.Every1 concept: entry-level ID.1 EV will ‘still feel like a Volkswagen’

The Volkswagen ID.1 will arrive in 2027 and look to start below £20,000
News
23 Apr 2025
Volkswagen to extend its range with range-extender PHEVs for Europe
Volkswagen Touareg - front cornering

Volkswagen to extend its range with range-extender PHEVs for Europe

EV-lite range-extender technology could prolong the shelf-life of Volkswagen’s petrol engine offerings to 2030 and beyond
News
23 Apr 2025
Volkswagen to launch more than 30 new models in China by 2028
Volkswagen ID.Aura, Evo and Era unveiled at the Auto Shanghai motor show

Volkswagen to launch more than 30 new models in China by 2028

The ID. Aura compact saloon, plus the ID. ERA and ID. EVO SUVs, showcase new powertrain and autonomous driving technology
News
22 Apr 2025
Best new cars coming soon: all the big new car launches due in 2025, 2026 and beyond
Best new cars coming soon - header image

Best new cars coming soon: all the big new car launches due in 2025, 2026 and beyond

These are the most important new cars headed our way, from brands including Audi, BMW, Dacia, Ferrari, Ford, Skoda and more
Best cars & vans
8 Apr 2025

Most Popular

Chinese cars can’t match their European rivals when it comes to engineering
Opinion - Shanghai Auto Show

Chinese cars can’t match their European rivals when it comes to engineering

This new brand of cars might have battery tech on their side, but European buyers want much more than that
Opinion
25 Apr 2025
Leapmotor B05 family hatch on route to the UK with sub-£30k price and 400-mile range
Leapmotor badge

Leapmotor B05 family hatch on route to the UK with sub-£30k price and 400-mile range

The Stellantis-backed brand will launch a Volkswagen ID.3-rivalling small car with almost 20 per cent more range
News
23 Apr 2025
New Subaru Outback is “simply unsellable in Europe” for one very simple reason…
Subaru Outback front 2025

New Subaru Outback is “simply unsellable in Europe” for one very simple reason…

Subaru has confirmed that the new seventh-generation Outback will not be coming to the UK, or anywhere in Europe for that matter
News
23 Apr 2025