Volkswagen crosses its last red line: its CEO confirms it will import "made in China" cars to Europe.

25/10/2026 09:30

Updated to

25/10/2026 09:30

Volkswagen has been forced to make a historic decision and cross a red line—almost certainly the last one it had left, given its exceptional situation. Just a few months ago, the group was forced to announce 100,000 job cuts, while competition from “made in China” cars has driven down its sales in Europe.

Its main hope lies in its new generation of affordable electric cars, such as the new Volkswagen ID.Cross priced at just 20,500 € or the new ID.Polo. Within this strategy, there is now room for a measure it had denied for years. For decades, since Volkswagen began producing models “made in China,” it has always claimed these were a separate product line from its European models and would not reach Europe.

Importing cars made in China to Europe: Volkswagen’s red line

The German brand has always maintained that its cars manufactured in Asia are vehicles developed “for China in China,” and indeed they are, as they are based on cutting-edge 800V electric architectures and feature designs tailored specifically to Chinese tastes.

But… costs play a decisive role. Producing advanced electric cars in China is much cheaper than manufacturing similar ones in Europe.

Volkswagen’s CEO indirectly acknowledges this in this interview, stating that “the most important aspect of our strength in China is that we have made efforts to reduce vehicle costs, both in terms of materials and engineering, over the past two years,” which has enabled the company to develop “vehicles that are fully competitive in price on the Chinese market.”

Schäfer also points out the most important thing, that “we still haven’t fully utilized this technology for exports.”

We could import certain cars to Europe.

Volkswagen’s CEO says, “We are now starting to export [these cars] to countries that are easier to reach from China than from Europe, such as Australia and the Middle East.” But according to him, the red line for importing cars ‘from China’ into Europe will be crossed very soon.

"Looking ahead, we are preparing to import one or more vehicles from China," Schäfer told Autocar. "There are some interesting cars that we aren’t considering for Europe because they are too large, such as the ID. ERA 9X [a SUV that is 5.2 meters long], but we could import certain specific models to see how they perform," he explained. He also clarified that these vehicles "would not be intended to replace any of the current models [on sale in Europe]."

Without directly quoting Schäfer, Autocar identifies two possible candidates to be the first to cross Volkswagen’s red line in its article: the Volkswagen ID. UNYX 9x, a futuristic "electric Passat" that is 5.08 meters long and has a range of 730 kilometers; and the SUV ID. Aura T6, which is 4.8 meters long and has a range of up to 660 kilometers.