Soon after Volkswagen announced that it had acquired a stake in Xpeng to jointly develop electric vehicles in China, the German car manufacturer is said to have initiated talks with Chinese electric vehicle startup Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology to collaborate on the ailing Jetta brand.
A Chinese news website by the name of Cailianshe asserts that VW could form a joint venture with FAW Group and then purchase a platform of EV technologies from Leapmotor. While officials from Leapmotor and VW China are not commenting on the potential tie-up, reports of VW’s interest in Leapmotor come just days after the small company unveiled a new platform it developed in-house for making vehicles that it wants to license to other car manufacturers.
Leapmotor’s system incorporates an integrated computing platform that can control all intelligent functions such as an EV’s autonomous driving and smart cockpit systems. At the launch of the new architecture, Leapmotor chief executive Zhu Jiangming told Reuters that the company was already in advanced talks with two foreign companies interested in licensing the technology.
Read: VW Buys 5% Stake In Xpeng, Will Jointly Develop EVs For China
Details about how VW and Leapmotor could work in partnership together on the Jetta brand are not yet known. While the Jetta brand initially enjoyed a successful launch in China, sales fell by 13.48% to 146,900 units last year.
As mentioned, VW has been making significant moves to grow its footprint in China’s burgeoning electric vehicle market. It is investing $700 million to buy a 4.99% stake in Xpeng and will use the Chinese company’s Edward platform currently used by the G9 and P7 to launch two new electric models. Furthermore, VW-owned Audi is deepening its relationship with SAIC and will co-develop a new connected vehicle platform. Reports state that Audi is particularly interested in the 800-volt electric architecture developed by SAIC’s IM Motors for its L7 sedan and LS7 SUV models.
