Exactly a year ago, it became known about the intentions of the German automaker Volkswagen to buy a 4.99% stake in the Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles XPeng with the aim of jointly producing cars for the domestic market of China. This week, the partners announced the expansion of cooperation, intending to cover the global market using jointly created models.
Image source: Xpeng
As can be understood from the published press release, the platform jointly developed by the companies was designated E/E Architecture (electrical/electronic), and the first electric vehicles based on it will begin to be mass produced within the next 24 months. Volkswagen and XPeng specialists will be located in two research centers in Guangzhou and Hefei. In the latter case, Volkswagen intends to invest 2.5 billion euros in the development of this research center. Volkswagen will be able to use joint developments to produce its electric vehicles on the CMP platform and the global MEB platform intended for the Chinese market. Cooperation with local manufacturers in the production of electric vehicles for regional markets is a common practice for Volkswagen – in Europe, for example, the company cooperates with the local representative office of Ford Motor, and in the USA with Rivian. In 2026, Volkswagen is going to launch the first crossover, developed in collaboration with XPeng, on the Chinese market, and another electric car model will be released in a comparable time frame.
This is the third stage of cooperation between Volkswagen and XPeng. Last year, the parties agreed to jointly develop two electric vehicle models for the Chinese market, which will be released in 2026. In April of this year, Volkswagen agreed with XPeng to use developments in the E/E architecture in vehicles on the CMP platform intended for the Chinese market. The collaboration will now extend to the MEB platform for the global market.
It is difficult to say how successful such an alliance will be in the context of increasing customs duties in the European Union for electric vehicles produced in China. Perhaps, by localizing the production of models jointly developed with XPeng in Europe, Volkswagen is just going to gain some advantage over other European automakers. In May of this year, the Stellantis concern created a joint venture with the Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles Leap Motor, and this tandem is also focused on developing not only the European but also the world market.