news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Introduction: After repeatedly emphasizing that it "does not manufacture cars", Huawei's position in the auto industry has gradually become a software and hardware supplier. However, Xpeng and Volkswagen, both of which are OEMs, have a deeper interest binding.

(Text/Zhou Shengming Editor/Gao Xin)

On July 22, 2024, Volkswagen Group and Xiaopeng Motors jointly announced that they had officially signed the "Strategic Cooperation and Development Agreement on Electronic and Electrical Architecture Technology", and the two parties will further expand cooperation in the platform and software fields.

Volkswagen Group (China)

According to the agreement announced by both parties, starting from 2026, domestically produced Volkswagen brand models based on the CMP and MEB platforms will be equipped with the CEA electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by the two parties.

Since the beginning of 2024, the cooperation between Volkswagen Group and Xiaopeng Motors has continued to deepen: on February 29, the cooperation agreement announced by the two parties focused only on two B-class electric vehicles; on April 17, the scope of cooperation between the two parties was expanded from two B-class electric vehicles to Volkswagen's new CMP platform; on July 22, within the above-mentioned scope of cooperation, the electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by the two parties added domestically produced Volkswagen brand models based on the MEB platform.

This means that in the future, most of the pure electric models produced by the Volkswagen brand will use the new "CEA" electronic and electrical architecture, which is expected to greatly improve the intelligence level of the new models launched by the Volkswagen brand in China. At the same time, based on Xiaopeng Motors' R&D experience in China, the new models are also expected to have better localization adaptation.

According to the agreement announced today, the full name of the "CEA" electronic and electrical architecture is "China Electronic Architecture". The name also reflects the exclusivity of the new architecture for China and the importance that Volkswagen Group (China) attaches to the Chinese market.

CEA Architecture: CHINA ELECTRONIC ARCHITECTURE Volkswagen Group (China)

It is worth noting that the new electronic and electrical architecture was jointly developed by Volkswagen (China) Technology Co., Ltd., Volkswagen's software and technology subsidiary CARIAD, and Xiaopeng Motors. Volkswagen Group (China) said: "CARIAD China will play a key role in the project and integrate the latest generation of advanced automated driving assistance solutions (ADAS) and smart cockpit software functions for the new architecture research and development."

This also means that Volkswagen still holds an important leading position in the cooperation. An insider from Volkswagen Group (China) told Guancha.com that the new CEA architecture is not "outsourced" to Xiaopeng's team, and that the IP and intellectual property rights of CEA belong to Volkswagen Group.

"It's not Xiaopeng's people who will develop the CEA architecture for Volkswagen Group. They will develop it together with CARIAD China," the insider added.

From the current public information, it can be seen that the cooperation between Volkswagen Group and Xiaopeng Motors has two main lines. The first is to use Xiaopeng's existing platform to launch a Volkswagen-branded pure electric SUV. This model is a vehicle-level cooperation; the second is to jointly develop a new electronic and electrical architecture to empower more Volkswagen's pure electric product lines in China. This model is more of a software cooperation.

As for the first aspect, Xpeng will be more involved. According to the announcement in July last year, Volkswagen will jointly develop two B-class electric vehicle models based on the Xpeng G9 platform, smart cockpit and advanced assisted driving system software, and sell them in the Chinese market under the Volkswagen brand.

As for the second aspect, Volkswagen's involvement is even deeper. According to the agreement announced today, the smart cockpit and smart driving of the electronic and electrical architecture CEA will be led by CARIAD, a subsidiary of Volkswagen.

Han Sanchu, the new CEO of CARIAD China Volkswagen Group (China)

From this perspective, the cooperation between Xpeng and Volkswagen is more complicated than that between Huawei and automakers. After repeatedly emphasizing that it "does not build cars," Huawei's position in the auto industry has gradually become a supplier, but Xpeng and Volkswagen, both OEMs, have a deeper interest binding.

For example, Volkswagen can use Xpeng Motors' existing vehicle platform to shorten the software and hardware development cycle, quickly launch mature smart electric vehicles in 2026, and improve its market competitiveness; on the other hand, over-reliance on Xpeng Motors is risky for Volkswagen and not conducive to the long-term development of the brand. Therefore, cooperation at the bottom of the electronic and electrical architecture can fundamentally improve Volkswagen's "shortcomings" that it is not good at.

In addition to technical cooperation, the two parties also signed a "joint procurement plan". For Xiaopeng, using Volkswagen's global supply chain to reduce costs and optimize prices may be a "booster" to enhance market competitiveness. In addition, cooperation with Volkswagen Group has also brought more revenue to Xiaopeng Motors, which is also reflected in the financial report.

According to financial report data, Xpeng Motors' "service and other income" in the first quarter of 2024 was RMB 1 billion, an increase of 93.1% compared to RMB 520 million in the same period of 2023, and an increase of 22.1% compared to RMB 820 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

In the first quarter of 2024, Xpeng Motors' "service and other income" was RMB 1 billion Xpeng Motors

According to Xpeng Motors' explanation, the main reason for the increase in this part of revenue is that the first quarter financial report of 2024 recorded the revenue from technology research and development services related to Xpeng's strategic technology cooperation with Volkswagen Group in platform and software.

He Xiaopeng said in March this year that the strategic cooperation model between Volkswagen Group and Xpeng Motors has no precedent in the automotive industry. "Based on the long-term perspective of strategic cooperation, both parties have devoted their respective core advantages and resources to the strategic cooperation. Through joint procurement plans, synergy effects have begun to be realized. I firmly believe that the strategic partnership between Xpeng Motors and Volkswagen Group has broad prospects, and the two sides will further work together to explore."