Shanghai — Volkswagen plans to build a fully electric sports utility vehicle for China from 2021, taking on the Chinese market leader Tesla’s Model X as the German carmaker ramps up production of zero emissions vehicles.
VW said its ID Roommzz, which it presented in Shanghai on Sunday, will have three rows of seats and an operating range of up to 450km. The concept car is capable of “level 4 autonomous driving”, VW said. “We plan to produce more than 22-million electric cars in the next 10 years,” Diess said, adding that about half of VW’s engineers were working on products destined for China.To enhance VW Group’s research and development capabilities, Volkswagen and its premium brand Audi will combine their research and development operations in China.
Ulbrich said VW Group is converting 16 factories worldwide to enable mass production of electric vehicles, of which eight plants will be making VW branded cars.