Despite the tariffs, Volkswagen does more and more business with the Chinese
Volkswagen is further tightening its partnership with the Chinese manufacturer The details
The decision of the outgoing Commission – on which no corrections are expected by the incoming one, given the renewed political weight of the Greens – to impose duties on Chinese electric cars was welcomed especially by France and Spain, but caused an uproar the entire world of German cars (Volkswagen first and foremost ) which, as is well known, has developed a special relationship with Beijing over the last few decades.
THE VW CEO'S TRIP TO CHINA
In recent hours, the CEO of the Volkswagen group, Oliver Blume, flew to China to address the issue of European duties imposed on Chinese electric cars with some of the top officials of the Beijing government.
“Global economic development was one of the central themes. Free and fair trade between open markets is of fundamental importance in this phase of great challenges", said the German leader in a statement released at the end of the meetings scheduled with the highest institutional levels. It is not the first time that the industrial world of Berlin has taken Beijing's side, fearing retaliation from the Chinese side.
THE DUTIES ON THE CHINESE FRIGHTEN VOLKSWAGEN & CO.
According to German industrialists, the EU should therefore draw a line on the restrictions, despite the fact that already this year, from China, a series of flagships are arriving which make no secret of wanting to challenge Audi on the same ground , Mercedes and BMW, however having extremely competitive prices on their side which for the EU would be proof of the state aid with which Beijing unfairly competes with brands from the rest of the world. Only with the duties imposed by Brussels are list prices brought back to market values in line with Western ones.
THE SIGNING OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN VW AND XPENG
Blume's trip was not emphasized by Volkswagen social networks, usually quite active in describing the news from the Wolfsburg company. And it wasn't the only news that came from the Far East: just as the CEO of Volkswagen was talking about duties with the highest representatives of the Chinese government, the German manufacturer and Xpeng signed the definitive agreement for their technological collaboration for the Chinese market.
WHAT THE COLLABORATION INVOLVES
The signing will allow us to continue projects regarding the joint development of a platform, the China Electrical Architecture , for electric cars destined for the Chinese market on which four Volkswagen brand electric cars will be assembled starting from 2026.
In the documents it is possible to read the parties' intention to open "the way to a potential expansion of cooperation activities" on the same architecture. Volkswagen and Xpeng's plans include first of all the launch of a couple of electric vehicles within the next two years.
This latest agreement defines and renews an already existing partnership: Volkswagen and
The new agreement allows us to understand the reasons for the Volkswagen Group's apprehension in the event of possible Chinese repercussions in response to the duties decided by Brussels: the partnership on paper will not in fact be affected by the trade limitations imposed by the EU, but could become a target of Beijing. Perhaps this is why the CEO of the Group met directly with members of the Chinese government during his trip.
OTHER COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN BERLIN AND BEIJING
But Volkswagen is not the only German company to continue to do business with the Chinese at a time when, commercially, relations between Brussels and Beijing are deteriorating.
In recent months, Audi has also finalized the collaboration agreement with the Chinese SAIC launched last summer which provides for the joint development of high-end electric models for their Sino-German joint venture.
The two companies intend to start a program of sharing activities and resources to develop several electric cars destined for the East: the first is expected as early as 2025. Furthermore, Audi and SAIC intend to work together on a new platform called Advanced Digitized Platform.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/nonostante-i-dazi-volkswagen-fa-sempre-piu-affari-con-i-cinesi/ on Fri, 26 Jul 2024 05:01:55 +0000.