On Feb. 23, Volkswagen Anhui(or JAC Volkswagen) completed the brand new MEB plant’s body shop construction, signalling Volkswagen Anhui’s one step forward towards its plan to ‘build Volkswagen’s globally NEV centre’. The equipment inside the MEB plant will be implanted in March.
About Volkswagen Anhui
Established in 2017 in central China’s Anhui, Volkswagen Anhui is the joint venture between Volkswagen and JAC. It is the German automaker’s first joint venture in China to focus on new energy vehicles (NEVs).
Starting from 2015, JAC and Volkswagen’s collaboration continues to receive high attention from the outside. In those 6 years, under the effort of both JAC and Volkswagen, their collaboration has been deeper and the target improved greatly.
At the end of 2020, Volkswagen increased its stake in the company to 75 percent and had it renamed Volkswagen Anhui to focus primarily on the development and production of NEVs.
Strengthening Volkswagen’s competitivity in the NEV market
Volkswagen Anhui‘s MEB plant will be the third of Volkswagen in China. Volkswagen is planning to build pure electric vehicles based on the platform.
More than 70 percent of the building construction has been already completed, the company said on Wednesday.
The factory occupies about 500, 000 metres per square and the body shop about 140, 000 metres per square. There are also assembly shops and painting workshops in the factory.
Together with the battery and component supplier campus under construction, the project will cover a total area of 930,000 square metres.
The first pre-production NEV is expected to roll off the production line in the second half of 2022 and mass production is scheduled for the second half of 2023.
The plant’s maximum annual capacity is expected to reach 350,000 NEVs, according to Volkswagen.
Volkswagen has already incorporated Huawei’s automotive NEV developing team.
Last year’s Sept, Volkswagen’s battery system factory’s construction started. This factory is the first one that Volkswagen wholly owned in China. The initial annual capacity is expected to reach 150,000 to 180,000 high-pressure energy systems. They will be used for Volkswagen Anhui’s NEV cars.
It is a trend for car manufacturers to build their own battery lines. BYD has also a construction plan for a battery factory.
With those two new factories preparing to function, Volkswagen Anhui offers a new imagination for its growth in China’s NEV market.
