Volkswagen Group to establish €1-B facility in China

MANILA: The Volkswagen Group announced that it is investing around €1 billion in a new cutting-edge development, innovation, and procurement center for fully connected intelligent electric vehicles in Hefei, China.

The new company, with the project name “100%TechCo,” combines R&D teams for vehicles and parts with purchasing. By doing this, the development process will take advantage of synergies and include state-of-the-art local innovations. The goal is to connect the Volkswagen Group's cars even more quickly with the preferences of Chinese customers. Once 100%TechCo is launched in 2024, the time it takes to develop new products and technologies will eventually be reduced by about 30%.

“The establishment of 100%TechCo is an important step of our ‘in China, for China’ strategy. By consistently bundling development and procurement capacities as well as integrating local suppliers at an early stage, we will significantly accelerate our development pace. This will also strengthen the efficiency of cooperation for our joint venture and increase our profitability,” Volkswagen Group Board Member for China Ralf Brandstatter stated.

In terms of R&D activities, 100%TechCo will combine procurement into a single joint unit in addition to bundling R&D for cars and components made in China, for China. In order to incorporate the latest innovations in technology and application concepts into new products, local suppliers will be involved in the early phases of product development. The development initiatives of all the Volkswagen Group joint ventures in China, including SAIC, Volkswagen, FAW-VW, and Volkswagen Anhui, will also be fully integrated under the new company.

The new facility, which will have over 2,000 employees from R&D and procurement, is scheduled to begin operations into operation in the first quarter of 2024. Volkswagen Group China Chief Technology Officer Marcus Hafkemeyer will be the Chief Executive Officer of 100%TechCo.

“With 100%TechCo, we are opening a new chapter in our cooperation with our joint venture partners in Changchun, Shanghai, and Hefei, as well as the Group's brands. We are fostering seamless collaboration to bring customized products to the Chinese market even faster and more efficiently. In a first step, 100%TechCo will steer the development of the models of the Volkswagen Anhui joint venture based on the MEB platform and will be responsible for the development of China-specific platform requirements and modules with a focus on electric mobility,” Hafkemeyer said.

100%TechCo is already anticipated to have a significant role in the development of a future Volkswagen brand model that will be unveiled in 2024.

The establishment of 100%TechCo is another milestone in Volkswagen Group's “in China, for China” strategy. It builds on further strategic steps the Volkswagen Group has already taken to address market-defining trends in China and accelerate local innovation. Among these is the recently announced strategic alliance with Horizon Robotics, a leading provider of hardware and software solutions for automated driving in China.

Photo from Volkswagen Group

Also read:

Stunning Turquoise color option of Volkswagen T-Cross now available

Volkswagen Group donates €1M to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria

Volkswagen PH updates lineup with rugged VW Cross Santana, retails for P1.098-M