Gasgoo Daily: SAIC VW plows 8 billion yuan in Changsha-based battery workshop

With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

SAIC VW plows 8 billion yuan in Changsha-based battery workshop

Photo credit: SAIC VW

SAIC Volkswagen invested approximately 8 billion yuan ($1.251 billion) recently in its Changsha plant to build a new battery workshop for NEVs and has upgraded the existing production lines to meet the demand for future production of MEB platform models. The new battery workshop has a planned annual battery production capacity of 150,000 sets, while having capacity upgrade space to satisfy growing battery needs of NEVs in the future.

AIWAYS to work with two cities in Shanxi province on battery swapping tech

Chinese EV startup AIWAYS recently signed several agreements with local authorities of Gaoping and Datong, two cities of China’s Shanxi province, for the strategic cooperation on the technologies related to “business-user-focused” battery swappable models and mini-grid integrating photovoltaic, energy storage with EV charging and battery swapping, and the scenarios for battery swapping applications.

Guangdong to relax car ownership restrictions in Guangzhou, Shenzhen

Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two of metropolises in Guangdong province, will further relax car ownership restrictions, as part of measures to bolster demands for cars.

According to a document recently released by Guangdong provincial government, the annual sales quota of energy-saving small-sized vehicles in Guangzhou will be increased to 80,000 by 2022. In Shenzhen, the application for small-sized new energy vehicle plates will be eased to boost car sales.

Baidu's 3rd-generation ACU to use NVIDIA DRIVE Orin™ SoC

Dubbed “Sanxian” in Chinese, Baidu’s third-generation ACU (Apollo Computing Unit)—the company’s computing platform for autonomous driving—will be equipped with NVIDIA DRIVE Orin™ SoC, NVIDIA announced on Monday at this year GPU Technology Conference.

New Geely Binyue PHEV starts at 119,800 yuan

The new Geely Binyue PHEV will come with 2 trim levels, starting at 119,800 yuan ($18,740), Geely Auto revealed.

China’s Jan.-Sept. auto parts export value soars 41.8% YoY

China’s export value of auto parts amounted to $61.51 billion for the first nine months of 2021, surging 41.8% year on year, according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs.

Pony.ai reportedly merges truck R&D team into PV R&D group

According to a local media outlet, Chinese autonomous driving startup Pony.ai merged its truck autonomous driving R&D team into the self-driving passenger vehicle R&D group about one and a half months ago. In respond to the media report, the company said it did “upgrade” the structure of its truck tech R&D team, and would continue expanding investment in truck-related business.

BMW iX BEV to go on sale in China at Auto Guangzhou 2021

The BMW’s all-electric full-sized SUV iX will hit the market in China at the forthcoming Auto Guangzhou 2021. Driven by electric motors at both front and rear axles, the model features a range of up to 630km.

BP partners with battery-swapping company Aulton for joint business

The British energy mogul BP signed an agreement with China's battery swapping company Aulton to buy stake of the latter’s subsidiary Guangzhou Aulton New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou Aulton).

Bosch-backed UAES teams up with SAIC Z-ONE

UAES, Bosch's joint venture with Zhonglian Automobile Electronics Co.,Ltd., has recently reached a strategic agreement with SAIC Z-ONE, the software arm of SAIC Group to explore centralization possibilities of automotive computing power and functions.

Horizon Robotics partners with auto intelligence company Untouch Tech

China’s edge-AI chip developer, Horizon Robotics, has formed a strategic partnership with auto intelligence company Untouch Tech for intelligent automotive core technologies development on November 8th.

CATL to participate in HOZON Auto’s D2 round of financing

HOZON Auto, the Chinese startup owning the EV brand NETA, on Nov. 8 inked an agreement with CATL to carry out a strategic cooperation on technology R&D and supply chain support, HOZON Auto announced via its WeChat account.

Geely starts presale for new battery-swapping heavy truck

The commercial vehicle arm of Geely Holding, Farizon Auto, introduced its new energy heavy truck, the Homtruck, last night. Presale of the Homtruck started at the same time, and the truck will be on the market in 2024.

Great Wall Motor Oct. sales fall 17% YoY

China’s top SUV manufacturer Great Wall Motor sold 112,069 vehicles in October, representing a year-on-year decrease of 17.33%, due to the sales decline of its Haval brand and WEY brand.

Changan Auto exports over 100,000 vehicles this year

Changan Automobile’s monthly sales continued to recover in October, with its cumulative sales to date exceeding the annual volume of the previous year.

GAC Group’s Oct. wholesales drop 8.11% YoY

In October 2021, GAC Group saw its monthly outputs and wholesales fall 4.48% and 8.11% year on year respectively to 192,589 and 192,854 units, the automaker announced on Monday. However, its year-to-date production and wholesale volumes still rose 2.8% and 4.3%.