The Volkswagen Group kicked off an ambitious project for expansion in the Chinese market ahead of the Beijing motor show, promising 20 new electric and plug-in hybrid in the country in 2026 alone. 

By 2030 the Volkswagen Group says it will have 50 electrified models in sale in China (EV, PHEV and range-extenders), including 30 EVs. The Volkswagen brand's range in the country now includes two lines of electric cars under the ID.Aura and ID.Unix badges. 

The German carmaker says it’s all possible because of how it has set itself up to use local resources for research, design and production. This includes a massive software team that’s developing tech especially for Chinese drivers. 

The VW Group has also launched two new sub-brands in China in recent years – AUDI (which is different to Audi – the “four rings and four letters brands” as VW likes to call them) and Jetta, both launching China-only electric vehicles at the premium and mass market ends of the market respectively. 

The new AUDI E7X is one of the cars at the Beijing show that we’re probably most sad to miss out on, with a clean unfussy design that harks back to Audi (four rings) at its 1990s best. 

All of the cars revealed by Volkswagen ahead of the Beijing motor show are just for China, so we won’t be seeing them in the UK, but it’s interesting because it marks an end to attempts to try and build ‘world cars’ that save money by offering the same thing to all markets. 

The Volkswagen Group’s Chinese EVs even use their own bespoke electric platform that has been designed for the local market. Also of note is the extent to which Chinese market cars use AI and other high-tech software in a way that European buyers haven’t yet embraced. 

Like the look of the new ID.Era 9X? Tough, it's only going to be on sale in China...