At the Volkswagen Group (www.volkswagenag.com) media event held on the eve of the recent 2018 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition,, Volkswagen Group outlined its vision to be a leading player in a new era of “smart people-oriented sustainable mobility solutions in China”.

To support this goal through to 2022, Volkswagen Group and its joint-venture partners in China will be making around 15 billion euros available for direct investments in e-mobility, autonomous driving, digitalisation and new
mobility services.

The event was attended by the VW Group’s newly appointed chairman, Herbert Diess, who confirmed that the Group will now be organised into six business areas — and the China region.

Dr Diess said: “As the world’s biggest automotive market, China plays a prominent role across all Group brands.

“The strong bond with our joint ventures and business partners will remain, but we are accelerating to make mobility cleaner, safer and more intelligent, and we will be starting local production of battery-electric cars in at least six factories in China by 2021.”

He went on to say that the company aims to be at the forefront of key areas that will define the future of mobility, adding that the company believes its future will be determined by the electrification of cars to tighten pollution control, and the deployment of information technologies like artificial intelligence to advance the level of comfort.

Volkswagen says that under its Roadmap E strategy, “the world’s most comprehensive electric vehicle offensive”, the company will launch 40 NEVs (New Energy Vehicles) in China in the next seven or eight years.