In July 2017, Volkswagen and JAC signed an agreement for a new joint venture to build electric cars in China. In November 2018, Volkswagen and JAC agreed to cooperate more deeply in the development of vehicles, design, product quality, and underlying technology.
Pictures of Volkswagen’s first Chinese electric vehicle built via its joint venture with JAC recently surfaced. The vehicle looks very similar to the iEV7S, with some minor cosmetic changes.
It is rumored that these more affordable electric cars will be sold under the SEAT brand in China, which is supported by the square logo on the battery charge port. Although, other more recent rumors indicate it will be under a new brand, Sol.
The changes can be seen in the front and rear but it’s easy to see the JAC iEV7S under the SEAT styling.
The choice of building its electric vehicles from an existing lineup is smart, as JAC electric cars are well designed and doing this will drastically cut entry to market time and costs since the factories and suppliers are already working to make the iEV7S and can probably easily migrate based on demand.
Volkswagen’s first Chinese electric vehicle won’t be a Volkswagen-only EV effort, it is possible that this is more of a large-scale compliance car effort to avoid problems in the near term with China’s new electric vehicle policy.