Volkswagen Group new China strategy focuses on EV offensive, smart mobility service

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Volkswagen Group will roll out more than 30 new NEV models over the next two years with 50% local production and work on providing consumers with smart mobility services in China, the Germany-based automaker said at a press conference on November 15.

Volkswagen Group, along with its Chinese partners, plans to invest over €4 billion next year in such fields as EV, vehicle connectivity, mobile service, product R&D and manufacturing, etc.

In 2020, the German auto giant is ambitious to deliver up to 400,000 NEVs in China and locally produce the MEB platform-based models at the Anting plant of Shanghai and Foshan plant of Guangdong. The high-power charging infrastructures have been under construction, which aims to make the vehicle travel up to 400km after 15-minitue charge.

Additionally, Volkswagen Group is determined to reinforce its SUV offensive in China by launching a variety of SUV new model in the future.

The group is seeking to develop self-driving cars for the world's largest auto market. Audi has obtained the licenses that allow it to conduct autonomous vehicle road tests in Beijing and Wuxi. Moreover, Volkswagen also joined Baidu's Apollo autonomous driving consortium, gaining a seat on the management board of Apollo.

At the press conference, the company introduced the latest progress of “Mobility Asia”, a wholly-owned mobile service subsidiary that was announced at the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition last year by Volkswagen Group. Focusing on the pain points for user's travelling scenarios, Mobility Asia operates five major businesses, namely, connectivity, smart mobility eco-system, big data application, autonomous driving as well as smart infrastructure ecosystem.

Thomas Owsianski, president of Audi China, said Audi China will triple its R&D team, taking on responsibility for Volkswagen Group development of high-voltage battery cells in this country. The premium car brand previously disclosed that it will bring the e-tron, Audi's first all-electric mass-produced model to China next year and start the local production from 2020.