Volkswagen considers CEA for up to 75% of key models in Europe — Autocar

At an event in China, Volkswagen Group said it is considering the use of the country-developed CEA electrical/electronic architecture in most future key models for Europe. As Autocar reports, the technology could potentially appear in up to 75% of such models from the Volkswagen, Cupra and Skoda brands on the European market.

CEA architecture

CEA was developed in partnership with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng. It is described as a zonal electrical/electronic architecture with high-performance central computing systems. It is intended to enable software innovation for vehicles with different types of powertrains, from cars with internal combustion engines to hybrids and electric vehicles.

Volkswagen currently uses CEA on the Chinese market. For the Western Hemisphere, the group is simultaneously developing a separate RVT electrical/electronic architecture together with US electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian. It is expected to debut in the production version of the electric Volkswagen ID Every1, the successor to the compact Volkswagen Up. The model’s presentation is tentatively planned for the 2027 Munich Motor Show.

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European market requirements

Volkswagen Group board member and Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said the company is seeking the most cost-effective way to adapt the architecture for the mass segment and is assessing whether CEA is the right solution for Europe. According to him, bringing vehicle software architectures into compliance with European rules and regulations could either increase the cost of cars in China or require the creation of a separate version.

Schäfer stressed that no final decision has yet been made, but spoke in favor of using CEA in Europe. The potential strategy change comes amid pressure on Europe’s largest carmaker to reduce electric vehicle development costs and competition from Chinese companies.