Volkswagen kickstarts model onslaught in China with three concepts

At the 2025 Shanghai motor show, Volkwagen unveiled not one but three almost production-ready concept cars: the ID. Aura, ID. Era, and ID. Evo.

Not only do these cars preview a production vehicle for each of Volkswagen’s three local joint ventures, but according to Andreas Mindt, the Volkswagen brand’s head of design, they show the different design languages the brand will be employing for those joint ventures.

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The ID. Era is a full-size three-row crossover developed for Volkswagen SAIC partnership, and has a range extended EV drivetrain with a small petrol engine capable of recharging the battery pack when it starts to run low.

Volkwagen says the ID. Era is capable of 300km of pure electric driving, and has a further 700km of range when the petrol engine kicks in.

Stylistically, the ID. Era is the blockiest of the three concepts, although subtle bulges and scallops on the side surfaces stop it from appearing too monolithic and slabby. All the pillars are blacked out for a floating roof look.

Squint and it looks quite similar to a Range Rover Sport, although the Rangie doesn’t feature an array of black rectangles wrapping around the bottom of the vehicle.

The ID. Evo is a complementary large crossover, but is a pure-electric car to be built by Volkswagen Anhui, the German automaker’s only Chinese joint venture where it is the majority shareholder.

Built on an 800V electrical platform, it features a zonal electronic architecture, access to a “wide range of new digital services”, and over-the-air updates at “short intervals”.

The Evo’s rounder shape, gloss black lower body cladding that lowers the car’s visual height, and Alfa-esque alloy wheels, make it a sportier looking proposition than the Era.

The ID. Aura will be built by FAW Volkswagen, and is the first concept based on the Compact Main Platform (CMP) that Volkswagen is engineering specifically for the Chinese market with a zonal electrical architecture, and a user interface patterned on smartphone operating systems.

Although the car is pitched at the “price-conscious A-segment”, the Aura is also said to have plenty of AI computing power to enable automated driving, and a humanoid assistant to simplify interaction with the infotainment system and vehicle features.

Creases above the wheel arches, and a crisp shoulder line lend the Aura a level dynamism that’s arguably lacking in the ID. 7 sedan.

The ID. Aura, ID. Era, and ID. Evo represent the first salvo in a product onslaught from Volkswagen. Thanks to the rise of locally-developed electric vehicles, Volkswagen lost its sales crown in China to BYD in 2023.

Hoping to regain some lost ground, Volkswagen intends to launch 30 new cars in the Chinese market by the end of 2027. Twenty of these will be “new energy vehicles”, or EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Tellingly, the German brand isn’t aiming to be reclaim the top podium position. Rather, Thomas Schäfer, the Volkswagen brand’s CEO, says with its “In China, For China” strategy it is aiming “to remain in pole position among foreign automakers in China”.

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