Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer has cast doubt on the prospect of the brand introducing range-extender (REx) powertrains in Europe, because it is already well served here by more conventional hybrid powertrains.

Volkswagen last month revealed the ID Era concept at the Shanghai motor show as a preview of a large, range-extender electric SUV, aimed at the Chinese market, with a total range of 621 miles. The brand’s sales and marketing chief said at the unveiling that REx technology could provide a “very good intermediate step for many consumers” and the powertrains could even “have relevance in Europe”.

But now Schäfer has told Autocar that REx powertrains make most sense in larger models – like the ID Era SUV – and may not have an obvious role to play in Volkswagen’s European strategy. 

"The technology is not really new. It came up again and spiked in China specifically, but probably also in the US it's applicable - in predominantly larger vehicles,” he said. “It makes sense if you have any kind of CO2 regulation and you need to comply with it, but in the bigger cars.

"The questionable area is in the smaller space. While you have PHEVs, do you really need range-extenders?”

Indeed, Volkswagen now offers almost every car above the Polo in Europe with a plug-in hybrid powertrain - providing as much as 88 miles of electric range in the Golf eHybrid, which could make it unnecessary to introduce another form of electrified powertrain. 

“It's an expensive technology", said Schäfer of a REx set-up, referencing the need to combine a large electric battery with a conventional ICE powertrain, "and from a drivability and cost point of view, it makes no sense to have both range-extenders and plug-in hybrids."

He pointed to the long EV ranges and fast-charging capabilities of Volkswagen's latest PHEVs and said swapping this system out in the Golf, Passat, Tiguan and Tayron "is probably not the way to go". 

"In bigger cars, yes. Scout, for example, in the US will have a range-extender," he said. "But it remains to be seen if this is just a spike or it will actually be a bigger trend."

The ID Era is one of three new Volkswagen concept cars designed for the Chinese market. It was joined at Shanghai by the Passat-sized ID Aura saloon and the ID Evo - a more rakish take on the SUV, but still larger than the Touareg. 

Schäfer said that while these three cars have been conceived primarily for China, Volkswagen could consider selling them globally - but only if there is demonstrable market demand and a viable business case. 

Asked if Volkswagen could bring the Evo or Era SUVs to Europe, he said: "We never said that we're not going to do that. The question is: where do they fit in the portfolio, and where's the market? 

"When you look in Europe, for these kinds of big SUVs, the market is very small, and it's premium-driven. So to invest in this in Europe is difficult. China, yes, US, yes - we have in the past done similar things like the Atlas in the US and Terramont in China, so there's a way you could work on both sides. 

"But for Europe, we have been working on: what is the portfolio? Where is the profit pool that we want to address? And in a time where you work with a tight budget, you have to make decisions: what do you want to address, first, second and third? And that's not something that I would address first in the European context."

"We have a clear line-up now, from the ID 1 all the way up, that we're very happy with - addressing right from the entry all the way to the upper end with the ID Buzz. 

"That doesn't mean that in the long run, once we get through this transformation a bit more, we couldn't get halo cars added to this core portfolio.”