Volkswagen's ID. series delivered 17,600 units in China in June, up 107 percent from May.

(Image credit: Volkswagen China)

In the second half of the year, Volkswagen's ID. series of electric vehicles (EVs) will maintain 15,000-20,000 deliveries per month in China, doubling last year's sales by the end of the year, according to Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China.

Volkswagen's ID. series delivered 17,600 units in China in June, up 107 percent from May, local media Cailian quoted him as saying.

Separately, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed that Volkswagen's joint venture in China, FAW-Volkswagen, sold 12,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs) at retail in June, compared with 10,000 units for its other joint venture, SAIC-Volkswagen.

It's worth noting that the CPCA's reference to NEVs includes both pure electric vehicles like the ID. family and plug-in hybrids.

The Volkswagen ID. family of EVs is currently offered in China in three models, including the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.6. The ID.3 is produced in China only by SAIC-Volkswagen, while the ID.4 and ID.6 are produced by SAIC-Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, respectively.

The ID. series from SAIC-Volkswagen are ID.4X and ID.6X, and in FAW-Volkswagen are ID.4 CROZZ and ID.6 CROZZ.

On June 27, Volkswagen unveiled its new model, the ID.AERO, which is based on the German automaker's MEB (Modular electric drive matrix) platform.

The production model of the ID.AERO will be Volkswagen's first globalized all-electric sedan model, and after its launch in China in 2023, it will also be sold in the US and Europe.

In addition to mentioning the sales of the ID. series of electric vehicles, Wöllenstein again gave his opinion on extended-range technology.

From a customer value perspective, extended-range hybrids are a transitional technology and Volkswagen will not pursue this, he said.

In September 2020, Wöllenstein said that extended-range EVs have some value from a single-vehicle perspective, but from the perspective of the entire country and the planet, it's nonsense and the worst solution.

This pissed off Li Auto founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang, who responded at the time that Li Auto was more than willing to conduct energy efficiency and environmental tests with Volkswagen's most advanced PHEVs and use real numbers to see who performed better.

On December 22 last year, Li posted a chart on his Weibo account showing that since deliveries began in December 2019, the extended-range EV Li ONE has spent 24 months to become the top-selling mid-size SUV in the Chinese market.

In fact, in addition to Wöllenstein, executives from China's homegrown traditional car companies aren't sold on extended-range technology either.

It will take time for charging facilities to improve and become popular, and extended-range is the most appropriate model for NEVs at the moment, Richard Yu, Huawei's managing director and CEO of the intelligent vehicle solutions business unit, said on Weibo on July 6.

The addition of the AITO M5 and M7 further expands the market space for extended-range vehicles, further accelerating the pace at which fuel vehicles are being replaced, Yu said.

Just an hour after Yu's Weibo posting, Li Ruifeng, vice president of Great Wall Motor and CEO of the car company's Wey brand, posted a stark response on Weibo.

Extended-range hybrid technology is outdated, that's the industry consensus, Great Wall Motor's Li said.

Li Auto slaps Volkswagen in the face with Li ONE sales results