Volkswagen has begun selling Volkswagen and Jetta brand vehicles in Uzbekistan, with the market overseen entirely by the German automaker's China business unit and supplied from Chinese factories—the first time an export market has been managed fully by Volkswagen's China division rather than its Wolfsburg headquarters or regional structures.
The launch was marked by a ceremony in Tashkent on June 17 attended by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand China CEO Robert Cisek (齐泽凯) described Uzbekistan as "the first step in our plan to use China-manufactured products to open high-growth markets," noting that the brand's Chinese manufacturing system and supply chain integration will serve its global expansion strategy.
The initial lineup includes eight models sourced from Chinese production: the Tiguan L Pro, Passat Pro, Teramont X, Teramont Pro, Tharu XR, and Lavida XR under the Volkswagen badge, alongside the VS7 and VS5 under the Jetta (捷达) brand. A dealership network of 13 sites is planned for 2026, expanding to 24 by 2028. Semi-knock-down (SKD) assembly is scheduled to begin in Tashkent by late 2026 through a partnership with Alyans Auto, a subsidiary of state-owned Uzavtosanoat, with an initial annual capacity of 20,000 units. A second phase would add over 3,000 jobs and a larger plant in the Angren Industrial Zone.
Uzbekistan, with a population of over 38 million, has seen annual vehicle sales more than double since 2021, exceeding 461,000 units in 2025. The country has set a national production target of one million vehicles per year by 2030. For Volkswagen, the market offers entry into Central Asia's fastest-growing automotive sector—where demand for affordable, well-equipped vehicles is rising alongside household incomes, and where Chinese technical standards are increasingly familiar.
The arrangement reverses the conventional direction of automotive globalization. Rather than a Chinese company exporting from China, a German multinational is leveraging its Chinese subsidiary as the operational and supply hub for markets where neither VW's European base nor its existing regional divisions have a natural foothold. This model differs from both the "In China, for China" localization strategy that foreign automakers have pursued for decades, and from the direct overseas expansion of Chinese brands such as Chery (奇瑞) and BYD (比亚迪). It positions VW China as an export platform—one whose product portfolio, cost structure, and supply chain are tuned to serve price-sensitive emerging markets where Chinese-built vehicles carry competitive economics while retaining the brand credibility of an established European marque.
Volkswagen stated it is now assessing further export opportunities in ASEAN countries, the CIS region, the Middle East, and selected African markets—areas where Chinese technical standards are gaining traction and where China-sourced models can, in the company's framing, offer "a better balance between quality, technology, and affordability." The strategic question is whether this model can scale: Uzbekistan's 461,000-unit annual market is modest by global standards, and the SKD capacity of 20,000 vehicles represents a cautious commitment. Whether the China-as-export-hub approach can sustain meaningful volume across multiple emerging markets simultaneously—without overlapping with VW's existing regional operations or diluting brand positioning in established European markets—remains the question that this first experiment will begin to answer.