Which models are involved?
When I last visited China VW and Audi were selling older models that were no longer sold in Europe. Obviously they were saved money on design but also benefitted from the fact they were tougher and easier to maintain, whilst reducing the risk of pirated components.
The downside is that these models are not as clean, safe or economical as the current European ones and given the rate of expansion in China this is not so good for global pollution.