A worker assembles parts in an electric car on a production line in Weifang, Shandong province. (Photo by Ao Tu/For China Daily)
Earlier last month, Daimler also announced its intention to acquire a minority share in Beijing Electric Vehicle, a subsidiary of the BAIC Group, with the purpose of strengthening collaboration in the new energy car sector.
In addition to its cooperation with BAIC, Daimler has been working with China's BYD to produce Denza-branded electric cars, which have some of the longest driving ranges in the country. Volkswagen is taking an even bolder move in China. It signed an agreement in May with China's JAC Motors to build a joint venture dedicated to developing, producing and selling electric vehicles.
The 50:50 partnership will have a total investment of 6 billion yuan and has made Volkswagen the first international automaker to have three partners in China.
Its first model, which will be produced at existing JAC facilities, is expected to roll off the assembly line in 2018.
Volkswagen has long made clear its ambition: to deliver 400,000 new energy vehicles to China in 2020. Jochem Heizmann, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, told reporters that about a quarter of them are expected to come from the new joint venture, JAC Volkswagen.
China has been the world's largest new energy car market since 2015. In the first five months of this year, sales totaled 136,000 vehicles nationwide, 7.8 percent growth year-on-year.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimated that new energy car sales could hit 800,000 units in 2017.
Rivaling Daimler AG in China, BMW AG announced in March that its local line-up will come with electrified options starting in 2019. BMW Brilliance Automotive was the first premium auto maker to manufacture new energy vehicles in the country. The local venture has produced four electrified models since 2014, including the all-new plug-in hybrid BMW X1 xDrive 25Le launched in March. Later this year, the all-new plug-in hybrid BMW 5 Series will hit the market as the company's fifth new energy model.
