Xpeng and Volkswagen establish workshop for new electric platform

Collaboration between the giants on the CEA architecture of future electric cars for China will have 'bases' in Guangzhou and Hifei

By: Francesco Barontini

Jul 23, 2024 at 5:28am ET

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They call them 'project houses' and will be areas in the Xpeng plants in Guangzhou and Hifai, where the Chinese company and Volkswagen will work to accelerate the development of components for their new electric car platform.

The news, leaked by the Reuters news agency, comes just a few months after the announcement of the same architecture, christened CEA (China Electrical Architecture). It will enable the VW-Xpeng joint venture to produce electric cars, currently only intended for the Chinese market, to cut costs by something like 40 per cent compared to today.

For China only

In the two 'project houses' technicians from both groups will work with the aim, according to the plans already declared by the two manufacturers, of producing the first models developed on this new basis by 2026. In these workshops, the configuration of the electronic components, modules and basic electrical network of the new vehicles will be carried out.

These will, in any case, be vehicles produced under the Volkswagen brand and intended for the domestic market. The agreement in fact does not mention the possibility of Xpeng also using this architecture for its own products, nor that the new cars will be exported outside of China, at least for the time being.

Ralf Brandstatter

This was confirmed by Ralf Brandstätter, member of Volkswagen AG's management board for China, reiterating that:

"From 2026, all electric vehicles of the Volkswagen brand in China will be equipped with this very powerful and efficient architecture."

Two cars by 2026

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The collaboration between Xpeng and Volkswagen was initiated last year, materialised by Volkswagen's purchase of a 4.99% stake in Xpeng for an investment of $700 million.

All this with the intention of jointly launching two Volkswagen-branded electric vehicle models by 2026, which, as confirmed by Ralf Brandstätter, will only be the bridgehead for the development of a completely new range.