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On July 22, Xiaopeng issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the company signed a joint development agreement with Volkswagen Group on the cooperation of electronic and electrical architecture technology strategy.

According to the joint development agreement, Xiaopeng Motor and Volkswagen Group will actively explore opportunities for further cooperation to expand the scope of application of the electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by the two sides. The two sides have reached a consensus on the promotion of strategic cooperation in electronic and electrical architecture, and look forward to further strengthening the strategic partnership. It is understood that Xiaopeng Motor and Volkswagen Group have set up a joint development project team in Guangzhou and Hefei, and the first model with the electronic and electrical architecture jointly developed by both sides is expected to be mass produced within about 24 months.

The cooperation between Volkswagen and Xiaopeng Motor began a year ago. In July 2023, Volkswagen announced plans to invest US $700 million in Xiaopeng Motor. Based on their core competitiveness and Xiaopeng's G9 model platform, intelligent cockpit and high-level auxiliary driving system software, two B-class pure electric vehicles are jointly developed and sold in the Chinese market under the Volkswagen brand, which is scheduled to be launched to the market in 2026. In December 2023, Volkswagen China bought a stake in Xiaopeng Motor. After the completion of the deal, Volkswagen China holds about 4.99% of Xiaopeng's share capital, making it the third largest shareholder of Xiaopeng Motor. Volkswagen only gets an observer seat on the board of directors of Xiaopeng Motor, but does not have the right to vote.

Since then, the cooperation between the two sides has been further deepened. In February 2024, Xiaopeng and Volkswagen signed a joint development agreement around the platform and software strategic technology, and made a joint procurement plan for models and common parts of the platform. In April 2024, Xiaopeng and Volkswagen issued a joint statement that the two sides will sign the latest strategic cooperation framework agreement on electronic and electrical architecture technology, and jointly develop a new electronic and electrical architecture platform based on Xiaopeng's latest generation of EEA architecture, which is expected to be used in Volkswagen brand electric models produced in China from 2026.

Not long ago, hundreds of Volkswagen engineers have been stationed in Xiaopeng Automobile headquarters to strengthen cooperation between the two sides and promote the landing of the cooperation project as soon as possible. Commenting on this cooperation, Baird, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group (China), said: "starting from 2026, all pure electric models launched by the Volkswagen brand in the Chinese market will be equipped with this strong and efficient electrical and electronic architecture."

The deepening cooperation between Xiaopeng and Volkswagen, on the one hand, may help Volkswagen enhance its influence in the new energy vehicle market, and then open the market to save the declining trend; on the other hand, it also helps Xiaopeng bus station to stabilize the position of the new force's head camp and help achieve the goal of doubling its performance by 2024.

However, with the intensification of competition in the new energy vehicle market, it remains to be seen whether the two companies can work together to create a "1: 1 > 2" effect. For Volkswagen, the technical strength in the field of fuel vehicles is very strong, but in the field of electric vehicles, the ability of technological research and innovation is relatively weak. As a result, its products can not compete with other brands in terms of performance, mileage and intelligence, especially in terms of intelligence.

In the past period of time, Volkswagen's electric cars have not performed satisfactorily in the Chinese market. In mid-2023, Volkswagen CEO Obom said that Volkswagen Group's business is highly dependent on China, but pure electric vehicles are not competitive in the Chinese market.

Data show that Volkswagen sold 191800 pure electric vehicles in China in 2023, an increase of 23.2% over the same period last year. Despite the growth, Volkswagen accounted for only 2% of new energy vehicles. The reason is that it still does not meet the needs of the new generation of consumers. Volkswagen's electric vehicles have disadvantages such as a single configuration compared with the new domestic car-building forces.

As for Xiaopeng Automobile, although it is a well-known new car-building force in China, its monthly sales are basically stable at about 10,000 vehicles, but its overall performance is not hot. In the first half of the year, Xiaopeng delivered a total of 52028 new cars, an increase of 26% over the same period last year, of which the model with the highest sales was the G6, with 15357, followed by the X9 with 13143. It is understood that Xiaopeng has set an annual sales target of 280000 vehicles. According to this calculation, as of the end of June, Xiaopeng's target achievement rate was only 18.6%.

If Xiaopeng adheres to its annual sales target of 280000 vehicles, the average monthly sales in the second half of the year will reach about 38300. In this context, Xiaopeng co-founder he Xiaopeng said that in the next three years, Xiaopeng will launch 10 new models. Among them, MONA pure electric cars with 100000 yuan to 150000 yuan will be launched in the second half of the year.

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