Hundreds of Volkswagen Staff at Xpeng Offices — Where Is This Heading? – CleanTechnica

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We reported last year on Xpeng and Volkswagen teaming up, and earlier this year we reported on Volkswagen getting an important tech boost from Xpeng, but news of the partnership has mostly been pretty quiet. However, some reporting out of China this week got my ears perked up a bit.

According to reporting, hundreds of Volkswagen staff members have been spending time in Xpeng offices recently. So, what is going on there?

Xpeng co-president Brian Gu told CNBC that what they are working on together will help Xpeng’s global ambitions. As I wrote earlier today, Xpeng just entered the Thailand and Malaysia markets. It has also recently entered New Zealand and Australia. It is also in Europe, but to a very limited degree so far. No doubt about it, the company must be also be looking at the Americas and Africa.

But what does this really mean? What is Volkswagen getting from Xpeng, and where will that lead? What is Xpeng getting from Volkswagen, and where will that lead?

Well, back from the start, it was indicated that this partnership would lead to two new Volkswagen models for China that are based on the same platform as the Xpeng G9 uses. This would modernize Volkswagen vehicles for China, improve their tech, and make them much more palatable for Chinese buyers, who have evolved a ton in recent years and expect the best and newest technology. By many accounts, Xpeng is at the front of the market for the “smart” side of what they call “smart electric vehicles” now. So, providing the brains and muscle of new Volkswagen EVs should be a big step forward for them. Presumably, that’s the key thing “hundreds” of Volkswagen staff have been working on in Xpeng offices. After all, if it’s based on the G9 platform, it’s really more of an Xpeng than a Volkswagen, but then Volkswagen’s got to get its imprint and design on there.

The way Gu puts it, as summarized by CNBC, is: “The German company’s workers are spending more time at Xpeng’s offices than the startup’s are at Volkswagen’s, Gu said. They are learning about the startup’s technology.”

But it seems like the partnership is really about collaboration and improvement on both sides. Remember, Gu is also saying this partnership is going to help Xpeng expand globally. “Gu emphasized the forthcoming vehicles will be ‘very different’ from those that [are] currently sold by Xpeng or Volkswagen. He said the cars would likely have ‘better range, charging, much smarter driving, more feature luxury technology, for the same price, potentially.’”

I wonder how much Volkswagen might be helping with design for manufacturing, manufacturing efficiency, regulations and needs of different markets (where Volkswagen has done business for years or decades and Xpeng wants to enter), and other aspects of the overall manufacturing process. Perhaps the company is also helping, in particular, with entry and more success across Europe? It’s hard to know. As always, partnerships like this are tricky since you may be partners for the time being but you’re also competitors. However, if what Xpeng and Volkswagen are making together is better than what either of them could make on their own, it seems that has to be seen as a positive thing. Volkswagen can sell more cars in China and Xpeng can sell more cars in various other markets.

Aside from Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia, Xpeng also intends to enter the UK, Ireland, and Singapore. But it must be working on plans for several other markets with this new and improved platform. We’ll see.

To wrap up, aside from Xpeng helping Volkswagen modernize the tech in its Chinese models, I wonder how much that is going to be used for Volkswagen cars outside of China. We’ll see.