Volkswagen Head Of Electric Mobility Sees China As The Solution For Self-Driving Cars
When we try to envision the future of mobility, we tend to focus on technology or one or two companies. The problem is that this fast-changing future is complex, with multiple layers.
Electric Mobility Will Happen With The Help Of The Chinese Market
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past decade, you will have noticed that almost every serious carmaker have their eyes set on China’s budding new car market. And that untapped market would mean carmakers could happily churn out car after car and gain profits. But a more general and global trend is also going towards the electrification of cars as well as the idea of moving away from cars, especially owning one to having access to a seamless mobility system. This last part has tripped up more than one carmaker, and so far only a handful of startups understand this concept, unencumbered by traditional legacy.
According to Christian Senger, Volkswagen’s head of eMobility, the country’s new rules should rev up the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AV) to the market. At a 2018 Geneva Motor Show conference, he was quoted as having said that Chinese upcoming intelligent vehicle rules should spark incentives and subsidies for automakers. Senger feels these Chinese subsidies will be used to VW’s advantage as it plans on stepping up its presence there. Considering that carmaker has a 13% market share in its Chinese brand with 20% for the Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi, Porsche, for example, both working on a shared EV platform.
Tapping Into The Chinese Market With The Right Products and Services
Senger points out that: “Right now you need to have electric drive train, a minimum range, and local production and then you get subsidies. There are a lot of indicators that this will now change that also the level of automated driving is a required premise to get subsidies. So the future of our market success is also dependent on our self-driving abilities.”
In many ways, Senger understands that the Chinese market is itself only one important layer of the bigger more complex e-mobility world unfolding, and sees how China is working with businesses to keep its economy rolling.
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