Die Verkaufszahlen sinken erneut. Der CEO von Volkswagen China verlängert seinen Vertrag um drei Jahre. Kann das "Wettlaufen" auf lokal angepasste neue Fahrzeuge den Abschwung stoppen?
Image source: Duoge
Recently, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen Group held a meeting and announced the early renewal of the contract with Bernd Osterloh, a member of the Group's Board of Management and the head of the China region. The new term is three years, until the summer of 2028.
Data shows that Bernd Osterloh joined Volkswagen Group in 1993 and was promoted to CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars in 2020. In January 2022, he became a member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group; in August of the same year, Bernd Osterloh assumed the position of President and CEO of Volkswagen Group (China), taking full responsibility for the business in China.
It is worth mentioning that since 2024, Volkswagen Group has replaced the heads of its brands in the China region. In March 2024, Han Sanchu replaced Chang Qing as the CEO of CARIAD China and also joined the Management Board of Volkswagen Group (China) as the Executive Vice President of the Group (China); in April of the same year, Johannes Roscheck officially replaced Dr. Jürgen Unser as the President of Audi China; in July 2025, Robert Cisek officially replaced Stefan Mecha as the CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars in China.
Volkswagen Group's adjustment of the management in the China region is also to consolidate the Chinese market and reverse the sales decline. In the first half of 2025, Volkswagen Group delivered 1.3138 million vehicles to the Chinese market, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%; among them, the number of pure electric vehicles delivered to the Chinese market was 59,400, a year-on-year decrease of 34.5%.
Can Volkswagen Group get rid of the downward trend in the Chinese market?
1 Declining Sales and Investment Income
In 2024, Volkswagen Group delivered 2.9281 million vehicles in the Chinese market, a year-on-year decline of 9.5%. Although China remains Volkswagen Group's largest single market globally, it is also the market with the most severe decline. At the same time, this delivery volume has also returned to the level of 2012 - in 2012, Volkswagen Group delivered 2.81 million vehicles in China.
The decline in deliveries in China has also affected Volkswagen Group's financial performance to some extent. Calculated by the equity method, in 2024, Volkswagen Group's investment income from its Chinese joint ventures was 1.742 billion euros, compared with 2.621 billion euros in the previous year, a year-on-year decline of 33.54%, and its share of operating profit was less than 10%. In this year, Volkswagen Group's global sales revenue was 324.656 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%; operating profit was 19.06 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 15.4%; net profit was 12.394 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 30.6%.
Volkswagen Group expects that the investment income from its Chinese joint ventures will further decline to 500 million - 1 billion euros in 2025, a decrease of up to 40% - 70%. In 2026, it is in an unassessable state. However, Volkswagen Group said that it has found a new balance between sales and profits. 2027 will be the turning point for Volkswagen Group's Chinese joint ventures to rebound, and it is expected that the profit contribution will rise to 2 billion euros in this year.
At the 2024 earnings conference, Volkswagen Group said that it had invested a large amount of capital in transformation and upgrading in the Chinese market. The decline in performance in 2024 and the possible continued decline in 2025 were all expected. Volkswagen Group's greater achievement lies in the strategic implementation of cost reduction, internal restructuring, and improvement of R & D efficiency. Volkswagen Group announced that the transformation investment reached its peak in 2024, and its investment ratio will gradually decrease in the next five years. In 2025, Volkswagen Group will enter the "delivery mode" in China first, and the next - generation intelligent connected vehicles developed locally will soon enter the market.
However, in 2024, Volkswagen Group achieved growth in the pure - electric market in China - 207,400 pure - electric vehicles were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. At the same time, Volkswagen Group delivered 744,800 pure - electric vehicles globally, a year-on-year decline of 3.4%.
But in 2025, Volkswagen Group's pure - electric market in China declined. In the first half of 2025, Volkswagen Group delivered 1.3138 million vehicles to the Chinese market, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%; among them, the number of pure - electric vehicles delivered to the Chinese market was 59,400, a year-on-year decrease of 34.5%.
At present, Volkswagen Group has not released its semi - annual report for 2025. In the first quarter, its sales revenue was 77.558 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%; but operating profit was 2.873 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 36.9%; net profit was 2.186 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 40.6%.
2 Intensive New Product Launches in 2026
According to Volkswagen Group's product plan, in the second half of 2025, it will fully enter the "delivery mode" stage of the "in China, for China" strategy, promoting the gradual implementation of the largest - scale new energy product offensive in China.
Data shows that Volkswagen Group will soon deliver a new generation of intelligent connected vehicle products, including pure - electric models such as Audi E5 Sportback and Audi Q6L e - tron, as well as fuel models such as Audi A5L and A5L Sportback. Among them, Audi E5 Sportback is the first mass - produced model of the AUDI brand independently developed by SAIC and Audi for the Chinese market; FAW - Audi Q6L e - tron is the first model on Audi's PPE pure - electric platform and the first model of Audi's cooperation with Huawei; SAIC Audi A5L Sportback is the first fuel vehicle equipped with Huawei's Qiankun Intelligent Driving technology.
In the medium term, Volkswagen Group plans to launch more than 20 new intelligent connected models in China before 2026, covering various power forms such as fuel, pure - electric, plug - in hybrid, and extended - range. In the long term, by 2027, Volkswagen Group will launch about 30 new energy models in the Chinese market; by 2030, this number will reach about 50, of which about 30 will be pure - electric vehicles, further strengthening its layout in the Chinese new energy market.
At present, the sales of FAW - Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen have not changed much. In the first half of 2025, FAW - Volkswagen's cumulative sales volume was 436,100 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%; among them, the share of fuel vehicles increased by 0.7% year - on - year. Data from Chezhizhijia shows that the Sagitar, Magotan, and Talagon models are still the main sources of its sales, with 119,300, 97,400, and 82,800 vehicles respectively; the sales volume of the pure - electric model ID.4 CROZZ was 10,400 vehicles, the sales volume of the Volkswagen ID.7 VIZZION was 1,115 vehicles, and the sales volume of the ID.6 CROZZ was 817 vehicles.
During the same period, SAIC Volkswagen's cumulative sales volume was 492,100 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 3.89%. SAIC Volkswagen's main models are the Lavida, Passat, Tiguan L, and Tharu, with sales volumes of 137,000, 115,200, 91,200, and 71,500 vehicles respectively. The sales volume of the pure - electric model Volkswagen ID.3 was 23,600 vehicles, and the sales volume of the ID.4X was 9,380 vehicles.
More products of FAW - Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen will be launched successively in 2026. FAW - Volkswagen plans to launch 10 new models customized for the Chinese market from 2026, covering four power forms: pure - electric, plug - in hybrid, extended - range, and fuel. The compact - class products are based on the CMP platform and are equipped with the CEA electronic architecture, targeting the needs of young consumers for intelligent cockpits and autonomous driving assistance; the mid - size products will strengthen the range and space performance and achieve intelligent upgrades through the MEB platform and extended - range technology; at the same time, the Jetta brand will also launch pure - electric products for the first time, supporting the entry - level market with the SOA platform. SAIC Volkswagen will launch 2 pure - electric models based on the CMP platform, 3 plug - in hybrid models, and will launch 2 extended - range models for the first time.
Judging from the exposed information, Volkswagen Group's new models in 2025 are mainly focused on the Audi brand. In 2026, whether it is FAW - Volkswagen or SAIC Volkswagen, the launch of new energy models will be more intensive, but the results still need to be tested by the market. Whether Volkswagen Group can achieve the goal of "2027 being the turning point for its Chinese joint ventures to rebound" also depends on the performance of these models.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Visibility in the Auto Circle", Author: Wei He. Republished by 36Kr with permission.