Saturday 15 January 2022
Up to 900,000 e-cars a year
VW is expanding electrical capacities in China
Volkswagen is not being slowed down by the growing Chinese electric competition. A third e-car plant in Anhui is expected to significantly increase production from the end of 2023. Last year, the Wolfsburg company missed their ambitious electric targets in China.
Volkswagen wants to expand its production capacity for electric cars in China. In the group’s third Chinese e-car plant in Anhui, production will begin at the end of 2023, VW China told the “Welt am Sonntag”.
Volkswagen currently operates two factories specializing in electric vehicles in Foshan and Anting, both of which are already producing. “This means that our annual NEV production capacity will be up to 900,000 units in 2023,” said Volkswagen. The Chinese government uses the term NEV (New Energy Vehicle) to describe cars with electric drives, including hybrids.
Most recently, the VW brand missed its target of selling between 80,000 and 100,000 purely electric cars in China in 2021. She only sold around 77,100 electric cars, the group sold a total of 92,700 fully electric cars in China.
Rapid developments in China
The disappointing numbers of the Wolfsburg-based group are in sharp contrast to the successful developments in the car market in China, which has grown again in the second year of the pandemic. The President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, Jörg Wuttke, also assumes that competition from Chinese car brands will become even tougher in the future.
The Chinese government has a great interest in strengthening local brands, “particularly with a view to the global markets”. Despite increasing competition, German companies are well prepared to deal with the challenge, Wuttke continued.