At
Auto Shanghai 2025 — held in China from 23 April to 2 May — the
Volkswagen Group (VW) continued to pursue its ‘In China, for China’ strategy, presenting 10 new models from its brands, including five world premieres. The ID. ERA, ID. EVO and ID. AURA are concept vehicles that represented ‘a new generation of intelligent, fully connected electric vehicles (ICVs) that are tailored to the wishes of Chinese customers’. The two further world premieres offered advanced and highly automated driving assistance functions: Audi’s A6L e-tron new all-electric model based on the PPE (Premium Platform Electric) platform; and the Audi E5 Sportback — the first series model of the new AUDI brand, a new venture created in partnership with China’s SAIC.
VW said the five world premieres mark the start of its largest ICV offensive in China to date, adding that by 2027, the Group will launch more than 20 fully electric and electrified models (NEVs — new energy vehicles) as part of its ‘biggest-ever e-mobility offensive’ — and that by 2030 the Group brands will offer around 30 purely electric models.
At ‘Group Night’ prior to the show, the company presented its AI-supported highly automated driving assistance system (ADAS), saying this demonstrates VW Group’s technological expertise in the highly competitive Chinese market. “Developed by CARIAD’s joint venture CARIZON, the centre of excellence for advanced driving assistance system and autonomous driving solutions in China, the system sets new standards with its particularly natural and safe driving behaviour in all traffic situations and puts the Volkswagen Group in a leading position in the highly competitive Chinese market for automated driving assistance systems (CARIAD is the automotive software company of the VW Group).
“VW will unveil the first vehicle equipped with this technology this year; and starting in 2026, the system will be integrated into a new generation of intelligent, fully connected vehicles for the compact class, making highly automated driving assistance functions accessible to more Chinese customers in lower vehicle segments.”
Oliver Blume, VW AG’s chairman of the board of management, added: “China is the technological pacemaker of global transformation, and the VW Group is playing a key role in shaping this development ... With a new generation of intelligent, fully connected vehicles, we are focusing entirely on the digital, smart world in which our Chinese customers live. Leveraging local expertise, we are creating products that excite and that strengthen our global footprint. This is another step towards becoming the global tech driver for the automotive industry.”