VW Plans To Present Affordable Electric SUVs In India

Volkswagen ID.2all. (Doc. Volkswagen Group)

JAKARTA - Volkswagen Group, an automotive giant from Germany, plans to expand its environmentally friendly mobility by presenting entry-level electric vehicles (EVs) in SUVs in the second half of the decade.

Piyush Aora, CEO of India's Volkswagen Auto Skolda, said that it is reviewing and working on the model and researching what platform fits the vehicle.

We are actively working on entry-level electric vehicles. We are evaluating which VW Group platform is best suited to build a compact electric SUV in India," said Aora, quoted by Automotive News, Saturday, February 3.

Thus, the car will be presented at a large volume and it will also require investment of up to three digits of millions of dollars to realize this project.

"The penetration of electric vehicles in India will not be as fast as necessary to justify investment, so we are considering the possibility of exporting the product," Arora added.

Currently, EVs only contribute as much as 2 percent of total car sales in India and local governments are targeting a figure of up to 30 percent by 2030. However, the most realistic target is that EVs will contribute as much as 10-20 percent in that period.

The group shifted its focus to EVs due to the lucrative tax structure in India, but the company will continue to present hybrid cars if it gets support from the government.

India taxed electric vehicles at only 5 percent, while hybrid car taxes reached 43 percent, slightly below the 48 percent imposed on gasoline-fueled cars (ICE).

What VW India has launched is in line with the company's global vision that it wants to fully deliver electric vehicles by the end of the decade. The German manufacturer also plans to launch an entry-level EV in the European market at a price of under 25,000 euros or around IDR 387.5 million by 2026.