Singapore to be first Southeast Asia market for Volkswagen’s electric vehicles

Singapore is the first market in Southeast Asia where German carmaker Volkswagen will launch its electric vehicles (EVs), with eight models to be offered here by 2024.

Pre-sales of mainstream EVs under the Skoda and Volkswagen brands will start at the end of 2023, with deliveries to begin in the first quarter of 2024, Volkswagen Group Singapore (VGS) Managing Director Kurt Leitner told The Business Times on Monday (Jun 26).

He was speaking at a media preview of three of the upcoming EVs: the Volkswagen ID.4 small sport utility vehicle (SUV) and its high-performance version, the ID.4 GTX, as well as Skoda’s Enyaq large SUV.

Also coming to Singapore is Volkwagen’s ID.5 coupe-SUV and Skoda’s Enyaq Coupe, a coupe-SUV version of the Enyaq.

In the first half of 2024, order books will open for the remaining EV models: the ID.3 small hatchback and the ID. Buzz van in both passenger and commercial versions.

This makes Singapore the first country in Southeast Asia to receive Volkswagen’s EV range, and one of the first markets in the world to be part of VW’s “second wave” of EV launches, said Leitner.

He cited the Singapore Green Plan 2030 as one of the main reasons for this, saying its “direction is quite clear” and that EVs are currently the only commercially viable option to achieve it.

Under the sustainability roadmap, all new cars and taxis will be “cleaner-energy” models by 2030. The island will have 60,000 EV charging points.

“In our planning, we think the tipping point (for Singapore) will be around 2025 or 2026. That is when we will see EVs equal internal combustion engines in new passenger car sales,” he said.

A home charging solution will be offered to buyers of the EVs; VGS is getting charge-point operators to provide charging services around the island.

Plans to launch the EV range elsewhere in Southeast Asia are “still not clear”, said Leitner. Malaysia may follow Singapore with “a little delay”, though there is no confirmed time frame yet, he added.

Asked about Volkswagen’s advantage against the strongest-selling EV brands here – BYD and Tesla – Leitner said that Volkswagen’s wide range of models would help it be competitive.

As for sales expectations, he declined to comment on specific numbers, saying that prediction is “difficult because regulations can completely change the landscape (in a short time)”.

One existing passenger EV incentive, the EV Early Adoption Incentive, is slated to run until the end of 2023, with no extension announced yet. This incentive, introduced on Jan 1, 2021, gives EV owners a rebate of 45 per cent off the Additional Registration Fee (ARF), to a maximum of S$20,000.

Volkswagen’s “ID” range of EVs kicked off in 2020 with the ID.4, which is available in China, Europe and the US.

The delay in launching the ID.4 here was partly due to the Volkswagen Group’s EV strategy of focusing on those larger markets first, Leitner said. He added that production delays – with supply chains having been disrupted by Covid-19 and the Ukraine conflict – were another factor.

Volkswagen Group Singapore is a subsidiary of Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS), which is itself owned by the Volkswagen Group. VGS is the importer and dealer of Volkswagen and Skoda cars in Singapore. It is also taking over the dealership of Spanish high-performance car brand Cupra, as well as aftersales support of Seat automobiles.

In Malaysia, PHS is the importer and dealer for Audi and Volkswagen cars through its two subsidiaries, Porsche Holding Salzburg Automotive Malaysia and Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia, respectively.

Source: The Business Times ©️ SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.