Volkswagen confirms Chinese-made models are headed for Australia

Confirmation from the Paris motor show

Volkswagen will sell Chinese-made models in Australia as the brand works to rebound from sluggish global sales, CarExpert reports. Speaking to British outlet Autocar at the Paris motor show, Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said the company is starting to export Chinese-built vehicles to markets with easier access from China than Europe. ¹

“We’re starting now to export to the global south and countries that have easier access from China than Europe, such as Australia and the Middle East,” Schäfer told Autocar, according to CarExpert. “For the future, we’re getting ready for bringing one or more vehicles in from China.” ¹

GoAuto independently covered the Autocar interview, describing the plan as a test ahead of a similar rollout in Europe and reporting that Volkswagen Group Australia had not yet responded to its request for comment. Neither Schäfer nor the Australian distributor has specified which models would be sold here, or whether they would come from the brand’s range developed specifically for the Chinese market. ¹²³

No Australian announcement yet

Volkswagen Australia has yet to announce any Chinese-built models for its local line-up, CarExpert notes. Schäfer told Autocar that Chinese-made models would likely supplement the existing European line-up rather than replace it: “there are some exciting cars that we would not develop for Europe necessarily because they are technically too big, like bringing in the ID. Era [SUV] … But we might do some selected imports to see how it works. It's not to replace any of the existing vehicles.” ¹

The announcement builds on comments by Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume after the company’s first-quarter results, reported by CarExpert earlier in the year, that developed-in-China models could be exported to Latin America, the Middle East, India and Asia. At that stage it was unclear whether Australia was being considered; Schäfer has now specifically named Australia. ¹⁵

Today the only China-built Volkswagen Group product sold locally is the Cupra Tavascan battery-electric SUV, GoAuto reports, and it says an import program would be a full-circle moment: Volkswagen imported the 2004 Polo sedan from Shanghai Volkswagen at Anting, Australia’s first Chinese-made passenger car, sold here in 2004 and 2005. ²³⁵¹

Candidate models from Volkswagen’s Chinese joint ventures

Volkswagen produces vehicles in China through partnerships with SAIC, FAW and JAC, CarExpert reports. Models built there include local versions of the Golf, Passat, Tiguan and Tayron, alongside China-developed nameplates such as the ID. Era, ID. Aura, Lavida, Lamando, Talagon and Tavendor. SAIC also builds China-specific Volkswagens including the ID. Era 9X, a 5.2-metre-long six-seat SUV with an extended-range electric powertrain unveiled in January. ¹

GoAuto stresses that no specifics about which lines are under consideration have come to light, but nominates three China-market models as illustrative of the opportunity: FAW-Volkswagen’s ID. Aura T6 medium SUV with a 170kW/345Nm rear motor, a 77.5kWh LFP battery and about 540km of range; the SAIC-built, three-row ID. Era 9X combining a 1.5-litre petrol generator with two electric motors for 380kW/660Nm, 320km of electric range and about 1350km combined range; and Volkswagen Anhui’s ID. Unyx 07 liftback, a 170kW/350Nm rear-driver with about 550km of electric range that GoAuto suggests could belatedly replace the Passat and Arteon. GoAuto also reports the strategy could extend to the Chinese-market ‘AUDI’ models and FAW-Volkswagen’s entry-level Jetta brand. ²³

Earlier CarExpert reporting on the ‘In China, For China’ strategy noted the ID. Unyx 09 and ID. Aura T6 use platforms developed in part or in whole by Xpeng, while the ID. Era 9X uses an architecture developed by SAIC for its MG IM range. Volkswagen previously planned to launch 50 new models in China by 2030 under that strategy. ⁵

A sales slump at home and abroad

Volkswagen’s Australian sales have fallen from a peak of 60,225 in 2015 to 28,970 last year, CarExpert reports, with the 2025 result down 20.6 per cent year-on-year after a 16.8 per cent drop in 2024. GoAuto’s more detailed figures show the recovery to 43,821 in 2023 receding to 36,480 in 2024, and just 17,161 deliveries in the first nine months of 2026, down 23.2 per cent against market growth of two per cent. GoAuto puts market share at about 1.8 per cent this year, down from 5.2 per cent in 2015. ¹²³

GoAuto attributes the greatest losses to former volume lines: Golf sales fell from 22,092 in 2015 to 3047 last year, the Tiguan SUV family peaked at 9620 units in 2017 but managed 7553 deliveries in 2025 including the new Tayron, and Amarok ute volume declined a further 35 per cent last year. It notes Volkswagen has added plug-in hybrid tech to the Tiguan and Tayron but lacked a broader lower-cost electrified range in a market now comprising 65 per cent SUVs and 19 per cent BEVs year-to-date. ²³

In China, Volkswagen was the best-selling auto brand from 1986 until BYD took the top spot in 2023, CarExpert reports. The brand plans to introduce more than 30 new electrified models in China by 2029, and GoAuto reports the ‘in China, for China’ program will deliver 13 new Volkswagen-branded electrified models in 2026 with Chinese software and Volkswagen’s tech alliance with XPeng, having previously targeted a 40 per cent cost reduction for its China Main Platform relative to the European MEB platform. ¹²³

“The big thing about our strength in China is that we have done an exercise to bring down cost in the vehicle – both material and engineering cost – over the last two years,” Schäfer told Autocar, as quoted by CarExpert. “We’ve set up vehicles that are completely cost-competitive in the Chinese market.” ¹²

Context: commercial vehicles and Chinese-sourced models

The announcement fits a broader sourcing push. GoAuto reported in August that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles chief executive Stefan Mecha said the division was examining whether vehicles developed with the Group’s Chinese joint-venture partners could be exported to markets like Australia, because China is a left-hand-drive market where the steering wheel is simply relocated. Mecha stressed there were “no tangible plans” yet for a Chinese-sourced VWCV model. ⁴

GoAuto has previously reported Volkswagen’s Commercial Vehicles arm was actively considering sourcing a next-generation Amarok ute from China, though current partner Ford is the likelier option. South American markets will already receive an Amarok with Chinese underpinnings based on SAIC’s Maxus Terron 9/MG U9, while Australian and European versions remain the South African-built, Ford Ranger-based ute. ⁴²

Schäfer’s comments also come amid a sweeping Volkswagen Group restructuring, with planned job cuts totalling 100,000 and the end of vehicle production at Dresden in December 2025 and Osnabrück scheduled for 2027, CarExpert reports. Chinese-built vehicles meanwhile accounted for 38.9 per cent of Australian new-vehicle sales last month, outselling vehicles made in Japan and Thailand combined, and Chinese-built models from brands originating outside China already include the Tesla Model Y, Cupra, Mazda, Hyundai and Volvo products. ¹