The VW Group announced an investment of €2.5 billion in China aimed at developing two models in collaboration with the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng.
The German company plans to expand the production and innovation center in the city of Hefei, in the province of Anhui, so that the brand can offer more than 30 fully electric models in the Chinese market by 2030.
According to information provided by Ralf Brandstätter, member of the board of management of VW AG Group for China, the Hefei unit will help reduce the development of local models by more than 30% and the products will be designed taking into account the specific requirements of Chinese customers.
“Today, around 50 million customers in China drive a product from the Group”, revealed Ralf Brandstätter. “The basis of our success is the cooperation with our strong partners, SAIC and FAW. Together, we are now accelerating the transformation towards intelligent electric mobility.”
The VW spokesperson also mentioned that the investment now announced “underlines our ambition to rapidly expand our local innovative strength.”
It is already known that the first product of the VW partnership with Xpeng will hit the market within two years and will be an electric SUV based on Xpeng’s G9 with an 800-volt architecture.
