Volkswagen China, Mobility Asia, JAC Motors team up on Hefei smart city program

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 27, Mobility Asia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, struck a strategic cooperation framework deal with Volkswagen Group China, JAC Motors and Hefei Provincial Government for a “smart city” program to be built in the capital of China’s Anhui Province.

Founded in May of 2018, Mobility Asia serves as a pioneer of Volkswagen Group’s transformation to mobility service provider. It is dedicated to building an intelligent connected ecosystem with focus on five key areas—connectivity, smart mobility ecosystem, infrastructure ecosystem, service/data monetization and autonomous car, and providing the industry with an all-round smart mobility solution.

Products and services of Mobility Asia currently include intelligent parking, intelligent charging network, smart online payment, intelligent scenario-based navigation, intelligent voice assistant/recognition, ride-hailing as well as intelligent fleet operation/management.

“We are aiming to redefine and create a smart city with our own hands by constructing intelligent infrastructures and offering the AV MaaS (autonomous vehicle-based Mobility as a Service). Under our cooperation, Hefei is going to set a benchmark for building smart cities in China,” said Wei-Ming Soh, Executive Vice President of Volkswagen AG and CEO of Mobility Asia.

What made Volkswagen choose Hefei still remained unknown. However, the city has become another important location that keeps attracting the German auto conglomerate's investment, especially in new technology and new energy vehicle (NEV) fields.

Hefei-based JAC Motors and Volkswagen Group China signed an MoU as early as September 2016 for a possible joint venture centered around developing EVs for the Chinese market. On June 29, 2017, the JAC-Volkswagen joint venture, with a planned annual capacity of 100,000 NEVs, started construction.

Moreover, Volkswagen Group China on May 16, 2019 founded a new energy technology joint venture in China with Jiangsu Wanbang Dehe New Energy Technology Co.,Ltd, JAC Motors and a 99.62%-owned subsidiary of FAW Group, according to qichacha.com, a Chinese enterprise information search platform.

Involving registered capital of RMB812 million, the newly-built subsidiary's business scope extends to cover the R&D, design, manufacturing and sale of EV wallbox chargers and charging piles, and the installation, maintenance and operation of charging piles.