According to what Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO told Nikkei, the German Automaker will be able to build 1 million electric vehicles per year in China as soon as next year. The new electric-vehicle plant in China’s Anhui Province, operated by a joint venture majority-owned by VW, is set to open next year, with an annual production capacity of around 300,000 units. This, combined with plants under joint ventures with FAW Group and SAIC Motor, will bring total capacity to the 1 million mark, accounting for around 20% of VW’s overall production in China.
“In the past, our approach was to develop in Germany and localize in China. But this approach will be changed significantly by setting up more local resources for R&D, especially for software, to be faster, to be more independent in China.”
Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO Ralf Brandstaetter
According to Nikkei, China is Volkswagen’s largest market, accounting for around 40% of its total sales, and the fate of its push into electrics there will have broader implications for its future. VW plans to expand its urban-focused ID.
“Volkswagen changed its customer approach. We created our own look and feel, the ID. Stores, to address young early adopters in China better,” Brandstaetter said.
Electric vehicles sales in China have been growing fast, with 2021 sales more than doubling to 2.91 million units. Volkswagen reported delivering 77,100 battery electric vehicles there in 2021, shy of its target of 80,000 to 100,000.
Volkswagen is driving forward the shift to electric vehicle manufacturing with its ACCELERATE strategy. Today’s official start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the completion of Volkswagen’s successful transformation of its Zwickau plant into a dedicated electric vehicle production facility. The long-established site in western Saxony is the first large-scale facility of any volume manufacturer worldwide to switch over all production from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles. Six models from the Volkswagen, Audi and CUPRA brands will now be manufactured in Zwickau based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). The plants in Emden, Hanover and Chattanooga will be added to the electric vehicle production network this year. The Volkswagen brand has thus laid the foundations for building 1.2 million all-electric-vehicles at its sites in Europe, the USA and China in 2022 based on the MEB. — the company added.
Dr. Stefan Loth, Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen Saxony: “After Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden, we have now converted a second Volkswagen factory in Saxony to dedicated electric vehicle production. The start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX02 marks the successful transformation of the Zwickau plant on the product side. Our focus now – depending on how the semiconductor situation pans out – will be on achieving full capacity. This year we aim to exceed the 180,000 vehicles Volkswagen Saxony built in 2021.”
German automobile Volkswagen has met its European CO2 emissions legal target for 2021 of 118.5 grams per kilometer (g/km) for its new passenger car fleet, the company said on Monday. In 2020, the group failed to come under the emissions limit, attributing the shortfall to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on car sales.
“Our group-wide electric offensive picked up significant speed last year with many attractive new models”
Christian Dahlheim, Head of sales for the multi-brand group
Average CO2 emissions for passengers cars sold in the EU were “around 2% below the legal target”, according to preliminary figures from Volkswagen. Under EU legislation that came into force in 2020, manufacturers face hefty fines if the average emissions of their newly sold cars do not fall under a limit specific to each automaker.
Nearly 20% of the vehicles delivered in Europe was electrified, and more than half of these were all-electric. In 2021, Volkswagen delivered 472,300 “electrified vehicles” (hybrids and battery-electric cars) to customers in the EU, Norway and Iceland, an increase of 64% compared to the previous year.