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The idea of a significant partnership is gaining ground in Europe to counter the announced invasion of Chinese electric cars. Volkswagen Group is talking to potential partners, including France’s Renault, to collaborate on the development of its low-cost electric car. The German giant, Europe’s leading car manufacturer, is interested in cooperating to produce the 20,000 euro (or less) model which should make the electric car revolution accessible to the general public, the Handelsblatt newspaper has revealed.
The talks with Renault are still “at an early stage” and could end in nothing, the German business newspaper’s sources said. The goal for the two probable allies would be an annual production of up to 250 thousand vehicles. Volkswagen did not comment. A Renault spokesperson said the cooperation was necessary to be competitive in the battery-powered city car segment. The discussion is open but nothing has yet been decided, the Losanga spokesperson specified.
European carmakers are stepping up efforts to bring cheaper electric vehicles to market. Think of Stellantis and its Citroen ë-C3, arriving in 2024, which in the cheapest version will cost less than 20 thousand euros. having to face growing competition from Tesla and Chinese companies ready to invade Europe with cheaper models. According to the research company Jato Dynamics, the average price of an electric vehicle in Europe in the first half of 2023 stood at over 65 thousand euros, compared to 31 thousand in China.
Renault announced in November the launch of a new electric Twingo, which should cost less than 20 thousand euros. The CEO of the transalpine group, Luca de Meo, spoke of the need to democratize the market, also because one of the reasons for the weakening of demand which, according to some analysts, could extend beyond 2024, is precisely the prices that are still too high. In March Volkswagen presented ID2.all, a battery-powered car under development that should cost 25 thousand euros, to be launched by 2025. Volkswagen’s CEO, Oliver Blume, declared three weeks ago that the Wolfsburg group has not yet instead, a decision was made on the timing for the production of a 20,000 euro low-cost electric vehicle. Blume added that VW could realize this project by the second half of the decade.