Volkswagen's boss, Martin Winterkorn, has stated that production of a new super-budget car will start in 2015.
During an interview in a German magazine, Winterkorn said: “We are developing a budget car for the price range between €6000 and €7000. Some three million cars are sold in this segment each year in China alone.”
The development of the new car, according to Winterkorn, won’t be carried out entirely by Volkswagen. He told Der Speigel: “We have to adopt new methods. The base development will be carried out in Germany. What will it look like, what engines will it get. It will then be further developed in China with our partner and produced from 2015."
Keeping the cost of the car so low is only possible by building and partly engineering the car in a low-cost country, with both parts and materials also being sourced locally. It’s likely existing Volkswagen technology will be used in the new budget car, further helping keep costs down.
Volkswagen’s technical chief, Ulrich Hackenberg, has previously confirmed that the car will eventually come in different body styles. The car will be sold under a new brand name that is yet to be confirmed.
Currently Volkswagen is focusing on creating the first example of the super-budget car for China, where it would also be built. Hackenberg told Autocar the car wouldn’t look cheap and it wasn’t designed to simply fulfill the need for mobility.
“It has to have good styling and the owner should be able to upgrade the specification over time. The owner wants to be proud of the car.”
Production of the new car, which is unlikely to come to the UK, is expected to begin in 2015. Initially only available in China, it may also later be offered in India.
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Dacia is already delivering...
... a £6k car here in the UK. Its no big deal for the mighty VW to pull the same trick in China where materials and labour are cheap. Am I correct that Up was originally planned as an around £6k car?
Why the need for new brand?
Why the need for a new brand? Surely this will only add to the cost, and wouldn't the Chinese rather purchase from an aspirational European maker like Volksagen, or even Skoda, rather than from a new invented "cheap" brand? Surely in the great VW scheme of things, they already have a well respected budget brand in Skoda?
Achieving a price equivalent to under £6000 should be a relatively easy task. Cars broadly equivalent to the Up like the Citroen C1 and Suzuki Alto already manage this even when equipped with airbags, ABS, ESP and what have you. So meeting this target for a simple car built in a country with low labour costs would not appear to be too challenging.
@ LP :-This is China's way
China likes to partner with companies that offer supierior technology but package and sell cars appearing to be home grown- this ensures they sell "their" products to their huge and expanding internal market plus the VAG gets a foot in the door too as well as some sweetners like setting up VW factories in China.
£6k for an Up...
... with no superfluous junk in it - wish we could have the same here.