Volkswagen ID.3 Rolls Into China
The Volkswagen ID.3, Europe’s second best selling electric car in the first half of 2021, is finally making its way into the Chinese market, the largest auto market and largest electric car market in the world. It appeared at the Chengdu Motor Show today, and pre-bookings of the electric hatchback were opened up.
The ID.3 was the first ID electric car Volkswagen put into production, but it follows the ID.4 X and ID.6 X into the Chinese market, two larger vehicles with longer wheelbases. The ID.3 is produced in China for customers there (as are the ID.4 X and ID.6 X). All three ID vehicles have been introduced in China in just the last 6 months. And “deliveries of vehicles from the ID. family have doubled in the past three months from 1,500 units in May to some 3,000 in June and 5,800 in July.” It seems reasonable considering how fresh these vehicles are, and the fact that the ID.4 won’t be delivered for a few more months, that that number will double again by the end of the year.
As it turns out, after writing the above, I saw this line from Volkswagen: “By year-end, 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles from the ID. family are to be delivered to customers in China — subject to the supply situation for semiconductors.” So, yes, the plan is to keep ramping up ID vehicle deliveries in the Red Dragon, and if things aren’t going as well as hoped, there’s always the semiconductor scapegoat on hand.
The ID.4 has become the 12th best selling fully electric car in China (in the month of July). If it, the ID.3, or another Volkswagen ID vehicle can get 5,000+ sales a month going in the Chinese market by the end of the year, it might break into the top 10. In any case, though, with a handful of electric cars on the market — all with the ID branding — and the targets mentioned above, Volkswagen’s EV profile in the country is sure to rise.
“With the ID.4 and ID.6 we have successfully launched two strong model series in recent months,” says Volkswagen China CEO Stephan Wöllenstein. “Feedback from our customers is promising, delivery figures meet our expectations. With the ID.3, we are now offering our customers a product in the important compact segment and, in combination with the other ID. models, are able to cover a large share of the market.”
Volkswagen’s biggest EV dreams are in Europe (because Europe is requiring it), with the German brand aiming to have 70% of its auto sales being fully electric vehicle sales on the Old Continent by 2030. The company’s ambitions in China and North America are a bit lower, but still notable. In both of those major markets, the target is +50% EV sales by 2030.
In the first half of 2021, Volkswagen sold 93,000 full electric vehicles worldwide. In Europe, it’s the top seller of plugin vehicles, and the ID.3 and ID.4 were #3 and #4 in the market in June, with 7,101 sales of the former and 6,619 sales of the latter. How well will the ID.3 (and ID.4) be selling in China once they get going?
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