Volkswagen is trying to catch up in China

After a slow start in electromobility in China, Volkswagen wants to catch up with new models. In two to three years, the core brand wants to have a similarly high market share for alternative drives in the world's largest car market as it does today for gasoline-powered vehicles with almost 15 percent, said China boss Stephan Wöllenstein before the opening of the international auto show in Shanghai. "Volkswagen has a good tradition of coming a little later, but all the harder." Volkswagen presented the large electric city SUVs ID.6 X and Crozz in a world premiere. The "flagships" of the ID.6 family are manufactured in China and are supposed to bring about a turning point. VW currently only has a market share of three to four percent in electric cars. But Wöllenstein sees a "good chance" of reaching a double-digit percentage this year. The group plans to sell more than 100,000 e-cars in China in 2021. The booming market for e-cars there is currently dominated by Chinese competition and the US manufacturer Tesla. Volkswagen is investing 15 billion euros in e-mobility in China alone over the next four years. "We will need two to three years to overtake Tesla," said Wöllenstein. He confirmed that Volkswagen had bought emissions certificates from the US manufacturer to offset its higher fleet consumption. He rejected the impression that a rival was being supported: "The deal was wanted from the start." He reckons that the group will be able to meet the requirements of its own accord this year. When it comes to electromobility, the Wolfsburg-based company relies on SUVs, which have a high market share of 47 percent in China. Environmentalists criticized and spoke of an "environmentally harmful yesterday in a green cloak". Even with an electric motor, an almost five-meter-long "SUV monster" does not fit into environmentally friendly mobility, said Greenpeace traffic expert Marion Tiemann. There has also been criticism from human rights activists who denounce the persecution of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, northwest China, where the company has a plant. The car manager defended Volkswagen's involvement in the region. For the plant in Ürümqi, as for all locations and suppliers in China, a code of conduct applies. Forced labor "cannot exist with us," said the car manager. Furthermore, "diversity" is implemented, which also concerns the employment of ethnic minorities "without any form of discrimination". "We have made it clear that we have to stand by our commitment in China as a whole, and we will also stand by our commitment in Xinjiang as long as we believe that it is feasible from an economic point of view," said Wöllenstein. Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of thousands have been sent to re-education camps in Xinjiang. China rejects the allegations and speaks of training centers. There are also increasing allegations of possible forced labor. Uyghurs are ethnically related to the Turks and feel oppressed by the ruling Han Chinese.