Germany/China – Volkswagen announced that it will work more closely with its joint venture partners on “forward-looking technologies”. The further development of eco-friendly models and a joint research project has been agreed with Shanghai Volkswagen (SVW), while the development and production of a new, ‘greener’ model in China will be the focus with First Automotive Works (FAW).
Additionally, production capacity will be expanded at FAW-Volkswagen, although a location has not yet been selected. VW has said that it intends to produce over 4m vehicles in China by 2018, 1m more than last year.
The joint projects are part of a €18.1billion investment in new plants and products which Volkswagen and its partners will implement between 2014 and 2018.
Jochem Heizmann, board member at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft with responsibility for China, claimed: “We will continue to set the standard in the Chinese automotive industry with highly-efficient engines and forward-looking technologies.”