JAC Volkswagen To Build EV Plant In China With 100,000-Unit Annual Output

Apart from FAW and SAIC, the Volkswagen Group has also partnered with JAC to build cars for the Chinese market.

JAC Volkswagen is the most recent, and smallest, of VW’s local joint ventures. Although it was set up in December 2017, it has yet to reveal its first production car.

Apparently, the two companies are still working on that. According to Reuters, VW and JAC plan to invest 5.06 billion yuan ($750.8 million at current exchange rates) in a new facility in Hefei.

The report cites a document posted online by the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Area last Monday, which states that JAC Volkswagen has obtained approval from environmental authorities to build a plant with an output of 100,000 battery electric cars a year.

Volkswagen Group China confirmed the report on Thursday and said JAC Volkswagen would launch its first production vehicle soon. A spokesperson for the joint venture confirmed plans for the plant to Reuters, adding that the approval represented an “orderly advancement of the project” and that their first model, the E20X, would be launched this year.

The E20X was first presented a year ago as a pre-production concept developed with input from Seat under JAC Volkswagen’s new Sol local brand. The electric crossover is said to offer a driving range of more than 300 km (186 miles). Earlier this month at the Shanghai Auto Show, the German automaker announced that the joint venture is “working on its own e-car platform together with Seat for the production of smaller NEVs.”

The joint venture intends to introduce the Seat brand to China by 2020 or 2021. Volkswagen said last month that it aimed to build more than 22 million electric cars in the next 10 years, with more than half of them to be made in China. The German giant plans to launch 14 new energy vehicle models in the world’s largest car market this year alone.