Volkswagen may have had a hard time with Tesla until its first electric vehicles were available. Anyway, it was crystal clear that the German automaker would not make things easy for its American competitor, and Volkswagen just proved that again in China. The ID.4 Crozz prices there reveal the SUV cost less than the most affordable Tesla from Giga Shanghai.
The American company charges RMB 249,900 for the Model 3 Standard Range Plus made in China – equivalent to $38,571 under the current exchange rate. That car uses LFP batteries and has an NEDC range of 468 kilometers (290.8 miles). The ID.4 Crozz in its most expensive Chinese version with a range of 550 km (341.8 mi) costs RMB 242,888 ($37,489).
There’s a pricier version for the ID.4 Crozz called Prime, which costs RMB 279,900 ($43,201), but it offers a range of “more than 500 km.” As much as it may be fully loaded, that is probably not what Chinese customers are looking for: range must play a more prominent role in the choice.
For the ones that would be happy with 400 km of range, Volkswagen sells the ID.4 Crozz for RMB 199,900 ($30,854). The difference is superior to what the federal tax credit represents in the US.
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Although Chinese customers fancy Tesla and its Supercharger network, Volkswagen dominates that market since it became the first carmaker to set foot in China back in the 1980s. What it lacked in the EV segment was a competitive offering.
In Europe, Tesla saw falling sales in 2020 when traditional automakers started selling electric cars, as Schmidt Automotive Research demonstrated with a telling graphic. Although China is a large electric car market with many competitors, these aggressive prices for the ID.4 Crozz may prove to be the most serious threat to Tesla there so far.