A German automobile trading company named Gregory Brudny imported 22 Volkswagen ID.6 electric cars from China. When they were returned to Germany, Volkswagen forcefully stopped them and even demanded that the 22 cars be destroyed directly. According to reports, because the Volkswagen ID.6 in the Chinese market is very cheap compared to Germany, there is still room for profit even if it is sold in Germany as a parallel import.
to this end,Volkswagen launched a lawsuit against the trading company and asked the Hamburg court to confiscate and destroy the 22 ID.6X produced by SAIC Volkswagen.
Because European regulations stipulate that electric vehicles equipped with lithium batteries must meet regulatory requirements for the entire life cycle of production, sales, and scrapping, Volkswagen also requires Brudney to bear the destruction cost of 15,000 euros per vehicle.
At the same time, Volkswagen's reason for prosecution is that these vehicles do not belong to Volkswagen's parallel sales channels and are only suitable for production and sales in China.
There are differences in batteries, software, and settings between the ID.6X produced in China and the ID.6 sold in Europe, which may bring confusing experiences to users and cause problems that cannot be solved by the after-sales network.
However, Brudney stated that they had paid tariffs on these vehicles, and they even provided vehicle documents issued by SAIC Volkswagen, indicating that the vehicles could be used for export, and it was illegal for German Volkswagen to prevent them from selling.
The Hamburg District Court stated that until a ruling is made, Brudny Auto Trading will be prohibited from using the Volkswagen Logo and ID.6 for commercial purposes within the EU.
The 22 SAIC-Volkswagen ID.6X units sold back to Germany are currently being detained in a court warehouse awaiting final judgment. During the detention period, each vehicle will be charged a monthly supervision fee of 800 euros.