Recently, Volkswagen Anhui, the third joint venture company in China, has made a new move, announcing the completion of construction in the new body workshop of its MEB plant. Dr. Ge Wandi, CEO of Volkswagen (Anhui) Co., Ltd., said on relevant occasions that the Volkswagen Anhui MEB plant, which started construction in April this year, has completed more than 50% of the construction as scheduled, and is expected to be completed in the middle of next year, and the first model will be put into production in the second half of 2023.
Speaking of Volkswagen Anhui, many friends are not unfamiliar, this is a joint venture between Volkswagen Group and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd., which was established in 2017 and is a symbol of Volkswagen's comprehensive electrification transformation in China. At the end of 2020, Volkswagen Group increased its stake in Volkswagen Anhui to 75% and renamed the joint venture To build Automotive (Anhui) Co., Ltd.
It can be seen from Volkswagen's series of actions that Volkswagen Anhui, as the third "spokesperson" of Volkswagen in China, enjoys continuous improvements in the treatment it enjoys, and the strategic position of the North and South Volkswagen in Volkswagen in China is gradually decreasing. We are all familiar with Volkswagen's comprehensive transformation into electrification, and this time Volkswagen's MEB plant in Anhui has completed more than 70% of the construction, which also means that Volkswagen will soon have a third pure electric vehicle factory in China.
Volkswagen Anhui mainly focuses on the research and development and production of new energy vehicles, and the MEB factory built this time will also build pure electric vehicles based on the MEB modular electric drive platform. In the current construction progress, has completed the renovation and expansion of the original Jianghuai Automobile Group plant workshop, as well as the construction of the new body workshop, according to the previous planning, the body workshop and assembly workshop equipment installation will start early next year, the pre-mass production car will be off the production line in the second half of next year, 2023 put into production.
Volkswagen Anhui MEB factory is located in Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone, Anhui Province, covers an area of about 500,000 square meters, of which the body workshop covers an area of 140,000 square meters, the factory area also covers the assembly workshop, spraying workshop and other facilities, if you count the battery and parts supplier park under construction, the total area will reach 930,000 square meters. During the construction of the entire project, about 40,000 trucks were deployed and about 720,000 cubic meters of earth were transferred during the land leveling work alone. The new body shop was built using a total of about 16,000 tons of steel and 56,000 cubic meters of concrete, and the ground bearing capacity of the plant was 5 tons per square meter. The entire MEB plant will be fully completed in mid-2022, and the first pre-production vehicle for the new energy model is expected to roll off the production line in the second half of 2022 and start mass production in the second half of 2023. The plant's maximum annual production capacity is expected to reach 350,000 new energy vehicles.
In this regard, Dr. Ge Wandi, CEO of Volkswagen Anhui, said: "Volkswagen Anhui is an important part of the Group's electrification strategy, which will inject a strong impetus into the realization of a purely electric, fully connected future travel blueprint. We are rapidly promoting the construction of the MEB factory, continuously improving our research and development capabilities, actively expanding the industrial value chain, and widely absorbing talents. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the project team and all parties, we completed the construction of the body shop in only six months, which is a result that makes me very proud. ”
Mr. Schneider, Chief Manufacturing Officer of Volkswagen Anhui, said: "We sincerely thank our partners for their long-term support and close collaboration, enabling Volkswagen Anhui to build a world-class factory workshop at a record 'Anhui speed'. We look forward to celebrating more milestones in the construction of the MEB plant in the coming months." ”
As the first Volkswagen Group joint venture in China to focus on new energy vehicles, Volkswagen Anhui is an important step in the radical strategy of Volkswagen Group's "ALL IN" electrification, and on the new track of electrification, Volkswagen is desperate to accelerate its catch-up precisely because it is looking in the direction.
Judging from a series of actions such as the acquisition of Guoxuan Hi-Tech, the shareholding of Jiangqi Group, the increase of capital in Volkswagen Anhui, and the high-speed construction of MEB factories, Volkswagen is precisely for the next big game, and multiple measures are taken at the same time, with the help of industrial clusters and forward-looking innovation advantages, aiming to build Anhui into a new highland for domestic scientific and technological innovation and electric travel.
The upcoming commissioning of the new plant will also allow the Volkswagen Group to play an important role in the decarbonization strategy, and in the future, Volkswagen Anhui will also make full use of its superior resources to actively expand potential local partners in Hefei and interconnect to meet the needs of Chinese consumers.