With over a population of 1 billion people Volkswagen has a beloved reputation in China among older buyers for build quality, ride handling and prestige. However, the legacy automaker is struggling to provide an EV experience that appeals to younger Chinese buyers who have a legacy connection with Volkswagen. Young Chinese buyers of EVs want superfast infotainment systems with super slim bezels, mobile phone connectivity, over the air updates advanced driver systems as standard.

Volkswagen has failed to cater for demand of the majority of Chinese EV buyers and as a result buyers are switching to homegrown EV brands such as BYD, Xiamo, Xpend with Tesla being the one foreign outlier. Volkswagen hires the best marketing people how can they have failed to understand the needs of a new generation of software first buyers?

That lack of understanding has impacted VW’s sales of the ID7 sedan, Volkswagen’s electric vehicle (EV) sales in China saw a dramatic decline in February 2024, with the ID.7 sedan selling just nine units, a 99.6% drop from January’s 2,269 units. The German automaker’s total EV sales fell 71% month-over-month to 4,552 units.

The ID.3 hatchback remained VW’s best-selling electric car, with 2,623 units sold, though down 65.5% year-over-year. It was followed by the ID.4 X (1,020 units, -70%) and the ID.4 Crozz (889 units, -59.3%).

The VW ID.7 Vizzion, which launched in December 2023 for 227,777 yuan (31,400 USD), has undergone multiple price cuts. The RWD version now starts at 197,700 yuan (27,200 USD), while the AWD version with 230 kW power and 472 Nm torque starts at 232,700 yuan (32,000 USD).