VW is now an investor in Xpeng
Volkswagen has acquired 4.99% of the shares in Xpeng for around 705.6 million US dollars and will be given a seat on the board of the Chinese company as a non-voting observer, as Xpeng has announced. The purchase price is currently equivalent to 654.5 million euros. When the partnership was announced in the summer, there was still general talk of” around 700 million dollars” – VW ended up having to pay a little more to achieve the targeted 4.99 per cent. Following the closing, the Wolfsburg-based company now owns just over 94 million Class A ordinary shares.
It is not yet known who Volkswagen will appoint to the management and supervisory board of Xpeng. However, it was clear from the outset that VW would have to content itself with the role of “observer” on Xpeng’s Board of Directors.
Xpeng goes on to say that the technical cooperation with Volkswagen on the development of two BEV models is making “considerable progress”. The feasibility study of the project has achieved a positive result and has been completed. In addition, both companies are “actively exploring deeper strategic cooperation in smart EV technologies”.
Two electric mid-range models were announced, which will be developed jointly with Xpeng and are to be launched on the market under the VW brand in 2026. Initially, it was only stated that these two unspecified models would “complement the MEB product portfolio as China-specific vehicles”.
As VW CEO Oliver Blume stated in a conference call at the end of July, the two vehicles are to be located in the upper B segment and use the Xpeng G9 platform, so no VW platform will be expanded with Xpeng technology. In addition, the cooperation, which is initially limited to China, could be extended to other markets at a later date. According to Blume, the framework agreement keeps this possibility open.
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