Visits: 14
A man walks next to the Volkswagen Group China office in Beijing on March 29, 2017.
Fred Dufour | AFP | Getty Images
Volkswagen Group said Thursday that, together with its Chinese partners, it will invest around 4 billion euros ($4.43 billion) in China next year, with almost half of the cash to be spent on developing e-mobility.
VW claims that the German firm now accounts for almost every fifth car sold in China. The automaker was a pioneer of manufacturing in China, first establishing contact in the late 1970s. VW now has large joint venture partnerships with Chinese firms SAIC Motor and FAW Group.
The announcement detailed that around 40% of the 4 billion euro investment is going towards e-mobility. The firm’s electrification strategy in China is being concentrated on manufacturing all-electric cars in two factories in Foshun and Shanghai. The manufacturer says by October 2020, the two factories combined will reach a capacity of 600,000 e-cars per year.
The firm wants to produce 30 different types of electric car in China within the next six years.
The CEO of Volkswagen Group China, Stephan Wollenstein, said in a statement Thursday that success in e-mobility “will be a key driver for reaching our sustainability target, becoming net carbon neutral by 2050.”
Volkswagen Group China claims it has delivered 3.34 million vehicles to be sold in China so far this year. The division added that it had increased its market share to 19.5% from 18.5% in 2018.
The share price of the wider Volkswagen Group was around 0.4% higher by mid-afternoon on Thursday. The automaker’s stock is almost 30% higher across 2019, but just 4.9% higher than September 18, 2015 — the day that the Volkswagen emissions scandal, also known as Dieselgate, began.