Volkswagen completes expansion project of VCTC Hefei R&D center

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On November 25, Volkswagen Group China Technology Company ("VCTC") inaugurated a new testing hall at its Hefei R&D center, marking the completion of a major expansion project. The site becomes Volkswagen's first comprehensive development hub outside Germany with full end-to-end testing and validation capabilities.

The Hefei R&D facility spans roughly 100,000 square meters and houses more than 100 advanced laboratories. Its remit stretches across software and hardware development, battery and powertrain testing, and full-vehicle platform validation. With its launch, Volkswagen now has—for the first time outside Germany—a complete R&D ecosystem capable of taking new technologies from concept through to localized production.

As a cornerstone of Volkswagen's "in China, for China" strategy, the VCTC team is working with CARIAD China to advance development of the company's new central-computing and zonal electrical/electronic architecture (CEA). Volkswagen expects the shift to a software-defined vehicle development model to shorten overall model cycles by around 30% and potentially cut costs for certain future vehicles by up to half.

The CEA backbone will also power Volkswagen's next-generation smart cockpit systems, advanced driver-assistance features, and full-vehicle OTA updates, enabling faster rollouts of digital functions tailored to Chinese customer expectations.

The center also brings scaled capabilities in battery and powertrain testing, with capacity to evaluate more than 500 sets of battery systems annually across performance, durability, safety, and environmental resilience. Its portfolio of facilities—including an EMC lab, full-vehicle durability rigs, and an urban test track—supports a complete pipeline from laboratory simulation to on-road validation.

Volkswagen said its Function Integration Testing (FIT) laboratory will begin operations in mid-2026. As one of only two such facilities worldwide, it will be capable of replicating highly complex and extreme environments, reinforcing the company's R&D competitiveness in electrification and intelligent mobility.

With VCTC now fully online, Volkswagen has established a complete design-to-validation development loop in China. The center will support both domestic programs and export-oriented models destined for markets such as ASEAN and the Middle East.