Volkswagen Group China signed a strategic cooperation MoU with Chinese language battery large CATL. The automotive heavyweights will collectively develop “cost-competitive batteries,” battery swapping, and discover battery recycling.
“By deepening cooperation with CATL, we’ll create high-performance, cost-effective battery options. Our core activity is constructing a robust native provide system. That is additionally a vital a part of the Group’s In China, For China technique”, mentioned Alfonso Sancha, Govt Vice President, Volkswagen Group China
The strategic cooperation was signed between CATL and Volkswagen Group (China) Expertise Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group (China) and VW’s Chinese language joint ventures SAIC-VW, FAW-VW and Volkswagen Anhui (JAC), the German automaker introduced on Weibo at this time.
Each firms additionally agreed to cooperate within the area of uncooked supplies provide transparency and V2G (vehicles-to-grid) expertise.
Volkswagen Group delivered 2.9 million automobiles in China in 2024, down 10% from 2023. SAIC-Volkswagen’s ID. was China’s best-selling three way partnership EV collection in 2024, with greater than 130,000 delivered items, up 23.8% year-on-year.
The collection at present consists of ID.3, ID.4 X, and China-only ID.6 X. SAIC-Volkswagen introduced it will launch an ID.7 S sedan in early 2024; nonetheless, after seeing the disappointing gross sales of the FAW-VW enterprise, they scrapped the plans. It was a very good determination, as FAW-VW offered solely 9 items of ID.7 Vizzion in January.
Volkswagen is going through reducing gross sales within the largest automobile market on the earth. Regardless of being the best-selling EV JV, Volkswagen’s electrical automobiles aren’t very talked-about amongst Chinese language consumers. Nevertheless, the corporate determined to double down on China to clarify it doesn’t plan to surrender.
In April final yr, VW introduced a 2.5 billion EUR funding in China. A yr earlier than, the corporate bought a stake in EV startup Xpeng for 700 million USD. Volkswagen Group launched a new model referred to as Audi in China with out the signature four-ring brand. Audi will produce China-only EVs primarily based on SAIC’s IM platform. Volkswagen additionally plans to launch two automobiles primarily based on Xpeng’s EV platform.
Volkswagen Group is CATL’s buyer, together with Tesla, BMW, Nio, Xpeng, Geely, Mercedes-Benz, and others. CATL is the largest battery provider in China and worldwide.
In 2024, CATL grew 47.2% to 246 GWh put in battery capability in China, having a forty five.5% market share.
