When the global electric car is in the white-hot stage of development, for Volkswagen, the Chinese market does not allow any mistakes. "SAIC-Volkswagen's new MEB plant has landed in Changsha." On October 9, SAIC-Volkswagen insiders told reporters that specific information would be released at the end of this month.
It is reported that this new energy vehicle project, which is located in Changsha Economic Development District with a total investment of about 8 billion yuan, plans to gradually put into production new energy models on the MEB platform from 2024, with a planned production capacity of 100000 vehicles per year. As the first step in the transformation and upgrading of the former Changsha plant, it is planned to build a new battery workshop with an annual production capacity of 150000 sets of new energy batteries, while reserving room for capacity upgrading to lay the foundation for the subsequent commissioning of new energy models.
"Volkswagen has inherited its genes for many years, and it is impossible to subvert them all in one day. Volkswagen would rather have such a unique path, which is different from the new power and from the traditional automobile companies." In the view of Yu Jingmin, deputy general manager of SAIC Volkswagen sales and Marketing Executive and general manager of SAIC Volkswagen sales Company, Volkswagen's electrification and intelligent transformation is the most thorough in the car company "elephant", which will also be reflected in SAIC Volkswagen soon. "the electric smart car market is growing by leaps and bounds, which is an opportunity for SAIC Volkswagen."
In order to demonstrate Volkswagen's determination to "All in" electrification, the first task of the MEB platform is to ensure that it can build a sufficient number of new energy models to become "leaders" before the appointed time. Data show that at present, Volkswagen has two MEB factories in China. Among them, the annual production capacity of SAIC-Volkswagen's new MEB plant is 300000 vehicles; the annual production capacity of FAW-Volkswagen Foshan MEB wisdom factory is 600000 vehicles, which will be increased to 770000 vehicles in 2024. In addition, Volkswagen's seventh worldwide MEB plant, the first-phase VW Anhui plant with a capacity of 350000 vehicles, is expected to be completed by mid-2022.
On this basis, together with the new SAIC-Volkswagen MEB plant in Changsha, Volkswagen will have a production capacity of more than 1.5 million new energy vehicles in China by 2025.
Compared with Volkswagen's huge capacity planning, ID. based on MEB pure electricity platform, such as ID.3, ID.4 and ID.6, which have been put into production in China, have been put into production. The family sold only 10126 vehicles in China in September. Before that, ID. in June, July and August Family sales were 3145, 5810 and 7023 respectively, with month-on-month increases of 123.6%, 70.1% and 20.9%, respectively.
"the ID.4, Volkswagen's first ID model, which invested a lot of resources, did not achieve the expected sales." According to industry insiders, at present, the capacity utilization of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen MEB plants is quite low, once less than 10%. In Europe, in addition to Tesla, ID.4 only needs to compete with Volvo XC40 EV, Polestar 2 and other products, while the Chinese electric car market has too many high-quality products to choose from. "German Volkswagen does not understand the demand of the Chinese market, and underestimates the fierce competition in the Chinese electric vehicle market. In the face of China's complex market, Volkswagen still has many issues to overcome on the road of transformation and adaptation. "
But the public doesn't seem to care about the current ID.. The market performance of the family is still carrying on the overall electric layout in China step by step. On September 23, Volkswagen China officially started construction of its battery system factory in Hefei, Anhui Province. As part of a battery production package unveiled by Volkswagen at Power Day in March, the battery system plant adjacent to Volkswagen's Anhui MEB plant has an initial annual capacity of 15-180000 sets of high-voltage battery systems, all of which will be used in pure electric models produced by Volkswagen's Anhui MEB plant. According to the plan, Volkswagen China will invest more than 140 million euros in the construction of new factories and supporting facilities by 2025, and the plant will be put into production in the second half of 2023.
"this means that Volkswagen has gradually completed the layout of new energy vehicles to key components in China." In the view of the aforementioned industry insiders, the main bodies of Jianghuai and Guoxuan Hi-Tech are in Anhui. With the establishment of the above-mentioned battery system factory, Volkswagen China's new energy industry has focused on Anhui. "however, the settlement of the new MEB factory in Changsha also shows that North and South Volkswagen will still be at the core of Volkswagen's new energy strategy in the future."
According to Volkswagen's plan, Volkswagen will launch 30 new energy vehicles in China in 2021, accounting for at least 35% of the total product sales, of which 15 new cars will be localized and 1.5 million new energy vehicles will be sold by 2025.
