This photo taken on July 4, 2022 shows a workshop of the Volkswagen Anhui MEB (modular electric drive matrix) plant under construction in east China’s Anhui Province. (Xinhua)
HEFEI, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — Volkswagen China Technology Company (VCTC), Volkswagen Group’s largest development center outside Germany, will launch an electric platform for the entry-level segment in 36 months, said Volkswagen Group on Friday.
Derived from Volkswagen Group’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB), the new platform will form the basis for electric vehicles specifically tailored to the wishes of Chinese customers.
Ralf Brandstaetter, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, said, “With the development of a China-specific platform for the entry-level segment, we are taking on significant development tasks for our ‘in China for China’ strategy. We will bring the platform to market maturity in just 36 months. This means that we are reducing the development time by around a third and can quickly tap into new customer groups in the dynamic electric vehicles market in China.”
With an investment of around 1 billion euros (about 1.09 billion U.S. dollars), VCTC is expected to be put into operation in early 2024 and will gather over 3,000 workers by the end of 2024.
This new company aims to integrate state-of-the-art technologies from local suppliers in the early product development phase to get more benefit from the innovative strength of the market. To this end, a 450,000-square-meter supplier park is being built in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province.
Around 1,100 local suppliers provide both hardware and software, enabling advanced technologies and application concepts to be integrated into new products at an early stage, according to Volkswagen Group.
Marcus Hafkemeyer, CTO of Volkswagen Group China, said, “By closely interlinking our development and procurement teams and involving local suppliers and partners in product development at an early stage, we are increasing productivity. We are also using innovative technologies to safely accelerate our development, testing and production processes.” ■
