Volkswagen is currently reconsidering which of its brands will get to develop a new family of small budget EVs after Seat lost out on the project.
Back in March of 2019, VW CEO Herbert Diess said that it would be Seat to lead the development of these fully-electric city cars, priced under 20,000 euros ($22,000).
Diess also added that as replacements to the VW Up!, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii, these new models would represent “a great step toward an even more affordable electric mobility.”
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Word has it that it will be the VW brand itself that will now head the projects, with VW Group execs believing that this will be “more efficient in terms of synergies,” according to a source close to Seat. The Spanish carmaker was supposed to collaborate with JAC Automobile Group on this project – VW’s partner in China for EVs.
Seat has now postponed its entry into the Chinese market by an unspecified date, reports Autonews Europe.
Seat went on to say that the decision to pull them from developing the small EVs was taken “in the framework of Volkswagen Group revision of its global group’s strategy regarding brands, production systems and markets.”
Meanwhile, Seat losing the project is furthermore “connected to the decision by Seat not to go to China. It would not have made sense then for them to continue to cooperate with JAC,” said a VW Group spokesman.
At this moment, it is unclear which VW Group brand will officially assume responsibility for this project going forward.
